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‘Not A Hack’: Iowa Democratic Party Addresses Delay In Results

Clay Masters
/
IPR
Across Iowa, a smartphone app malfunction is delaying reporting from caucus sites.

The Iowa Democratic Party has released a statement related to the delay in results tonight, insisting the issues are “simply a reporting issue” and not related to a hack of the system.

"We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results,” IDP Communications Director Mandy McClure said in a statement. “In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report. This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results."

According to aides with various Democratic campaigns, the IDP is holding a briefing call with campaigns. Details on the contents of the call were not immediately available.

But on the ground, there are reports of app malfunctions that delayed reporting, according to Des Moines County Democratic Party Co-Chairman Tom Courtney.

“The app didn’t work. Things didn’t work out right. I’ve been trying to call for several hours to report my results,” Courtney told NPR. “And I can’t, I can’t, get through the phone. It’s a phone number, and I can’t get through. That number is constantly busy.”

Instead, Courtney said, he’s now going home and will call and report his precinct’s results in the morning.

NPR’s Miles Parks andIPR's Kate Payne previously reported on concerns over the new use of a smartphone app for reporting results.

Dana Farrington is a digital editor coordinating online coverage on the Washington Desk — from daily stories to visual feature projects to the weekly newsletter. She has been with the NPR Politics team since President Trump's inauguration. Before that, she was among NPR's first engagement editors, managing the homepage for NPR.org and the main social accounts. Dana has also worked as a weekend web producer and editor, and has written on a wide range of topics for NPR, including tech and women's health.
Jessica Taylor is a political reporter with NPR based in Washington, DC, covering elections and breaking news out of the White House and Congress. Her reporting can be heard and seen on a variety of NPR platforms, from on air to online. For more than a decade, she has reported on and analyzed House and Senate elections and is a contributing author to the 2020 edition of The Almanac of American Politics and is a senior contributor to The Cook Political Report.