Audit finds DNC ‘interjection’ was ‘catalyst for the resulting chaos’ in Iowa caucuses
commissioned the audit shortly after the Feb. 3 caucuses, hiring a pair of Democratic lawyers to examine the technical and procedural failures that prevented it from announcing a caucus winner for days after the high-profile contest ended.
The party released the results to its State Central Committee Saturday morning. A copy was obtained by the Des Moines Register, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.
Shadow Inc. designed the app for the Iowa Democratic Party, beginning its work in August. But the company’s CEO, Gerard Niemira, told Motherboard, an online tech publication, that “we didn’t have a final production version of this until pretty close to caucus time.”
Iowa caucus 2020: Inside the Iowa Democratic Party’s ‘boiler room,’ where ‘hell’ preceded the results catastrophe
The “boiler room” was a call center where the state party had staffed volunteers to take phone calls from precinct captains who wanted to report results over the telephone, rather than use the app. When the app failed, the call center was overrun.
DNC spokesperson David Bergstein defended the “quality control check” system on caucus night in a statement provided to the Register.
“The need for the IDP to include a quality control check in their system was validated by numerous press reports which found ‘errors and inconsistencies’ in the initial caucus results,” he said. “The underlying technical problems were caused by errors from the IDP’s vendor.”
But the report does not absolve the state party of responsibility. It says that the failures within the boiler room “were all deficiencies in the IDP’s general planning and preparations.”
Regarding technology failures, the reports at “the IDP — not the DNC — is ultimately responsible to ensure that its caucus tools and infrastructure are in place prior to the caucuses.”
The review spotlighted a number of other issues, including:
- The IDP began development of the reporting app too late
- App users received no training on its installation or usage
- The app was not hacked or compromised by outside actors
- The Iowa Democratic Party failed to manage media expectations, telling reporters that results would reported in real-time
Although the state party eventually certified former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg as the caucus winner, The Associated Press said that reporting irregularities and potential errors meant it could not be certain of the outcome and it would not declare a victor.
Nick Klinefeldt, who was a federal attorney appointed by President Barack Obama, and former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell, conducted the review.
The report did not include interviews with DNC staff members, who declined to participate.
“Evaluating the nominating process always happens following the election so that DNC staff can remain focused on winning the general election, and this cycle that work helped contribute to President-Elect Biden’s historic victory,” Bergstein said.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Mark Smith said in a statement Saturday the report “should speak for itself” and thanked Klinefeldt and Campbell for their work.
“In the interest of clarity and public reassurance, the IDP commissioned this self-critical report to help guide conversations as we move forward,” he said. “It is deeply unfortunate that technical setbacks overshadowed the selfless work of thousands of volunteers who were committed to making the 2020 caucuses a success. … The most important thing for us to do now is to heed these lessons, listen to each other’s ideas, and work together to move forward.”
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.