The Iowa Caucus App Disaster — The Tip of the Iceberg
By: Ben Baker
Tags: Politics, Software, Caucus, Government

This past Monday evening, as the Democratic party and the rest of the nation anxiously awaited the results of the Iowa Caucus to kick-off the 2020 election cycle, disaster struck. The mobile app used by Caucus Chairs to report caucus results continuously crashed. In its wake, political campaigns questioned the efficacy of the caucuses, news media blasted the IDP (Iowa Democratic Party) for its poor planning, and Americans sat waiting for results. After the app failed, Caucus Chairs were forced to call into overwhelmed party phone lines to report their numbers, delaying results by many hours. As a gov-tech entrepreneur in Iowa at the time of the caucuses, I was caught in the middle of this meltdown, for I was also a Caucus Chair. Having experience in software and government, this technological oversight was a prime example of why government needs to overhaul its use of software, and is a call for more innovation in the space.

Background

Two weeks ago, I moved out of my apartment and hopped on a plane to Iowa to go on a country-wide tour following the campaign trail as part of my work with Polimorphic. Polimorphic is a non-partisan start-up in the government-tech space, we set out to connect with campaigns and politicians, and gain insights into our election processes and learn about how constituents interface with government. What started out as a trip to observe the Iowa caucuses became a complete immersion into the election process, as the IDP was shorthanded and needed our assistance to chair three precincts in Polk County. On caucus night, Caucus Chairs are responsible for running caucuses and reporting their results.

After going through an official training program administered by the IDP, I was given all the documentation and resources needed to properly run the caucuses (here is an article detailing how the caucuses work). As part of the training, I was instructed to download and sign-in to a new app that the party was implementing for the first time. Traditionally, the party had Caucus Chairs call-in to report their precinct results, but to add efficiency to the process, for the first time the party decided to utilize an app for results reporting.

The Problem

One of the error messages I received

I began to experience problems on the day of the caucus when I attempted to sign into the app with the ID and PIN designated for my precinct. When I tried this, I was met with an ‘invalid Pin’ error message. After many login attempts, app restarts, and many fruitless google searches, I called the party hotline and spoke with three different staffers. Each one hurriedly tried to help me determine the correct login credentials and sign-in to the app. After several assurances that the app would work, I was still met with the same error message when I attempted logging in using my login credentials. At that point I gave up. I figured that I could simply call in to the IDP that evening to report the results.

The caucus itself ran fairly smoothly. In fact, I was blown away by the poise and candor that the caucus goers exhibited at my precinct. These folks exemplified the best of our political systems: voicing their informed thoughts on each candidate, citing specific policy examples and including personal anecdotes. They not only listened to each other and respected differences in opinion, but also were open to new ideas and perspectives from their fellow caucus goers. The problems only began after I wrapped up the caucus, when I had completed the necessary paperwork and had called into the party hotline to report my results. I was met with the classic waiting music. After I had waited an hour, I was randomly disconnected. I was eventually able to report my results through contacting a personal connection working internally at the party.

Caucus-goers avidly discussing different policy perspectives

Over the past few days, I’ve reflected on the successes and failures of the Iowa Caucuses. Here are some of my lasting thoughts:

First, the ‘app’ was not actually an app. It was not deployed on the App Store; instead Caucus Chairs needed to download it through another application called TestFlight. TestFlight is used to test iPhone apps before they are put into production. Applications downloaded through TestFlight are not meant for production-scale usage. I believe some of the problems I (and many others Caucus Chairs) experienced on caucus night can be attributed to the app not being built to support the volume of use it experienced that night. A simple field test and a customer service call with the developers at Apple would have warned the engineers that this solution would not be viable on the night of the caucus.

Second, an app was not necessary for the party’s objectives. The IDP simply wanted a more efficient way for Caucus Chairs to report their results. Apps are used to provide engaging, interactive user experiences. Apps often are not the right answer if the sole goal is efficiency. As such, developing an app was overkill because of the technological overhead needed to build even simple reporting functionality. Instead, the IDP could have used a simple online reporting form with security credentialing.

In fact, a Google form where each Caucus Chair would have to input their caucus precinct ID and PIN (effectively a username and password) would have done the trick.

The Larger Problem

The technical oversights and software failures experienced on the night of the caucuses reflect problems that occur frequently throughout our government. Due to a lack of software experience and adequate software technologies within our government, failures similar to the Iowa app fiasco seriously affect constituents on the daily. Many government offices still rely on passing around physical constituent files to manage their contact with their constituents. As a result, cases get dropped, documents get lost, response times lag, all at the expense of constituents. What appears superficially to be a deficiency in time was actually a technology problem: had the government offices used CRM software, they would be able to properly handle the needs of their constituents without letting cases fall through the cracks, all while saving time. This problem pervades all levels of government, and yet goes largely unnoticed.

With our nation comprising well over 300 million Americans, it is ever more pertinent that our government adapts to handle the needs of all of its citizens. However, despite tremendous technological innovation over the past 20 years, our government systems are stuck using outdated software and management systems. As a result, Americans are frustrated because they feel that their elected officials are not listening, and politicians are overwhelmed because their systems cannot handle the volume of incoming messages from their constituents. The issue is not that Americans do not care about politics, or that politicians are not interested in what their constituents have to say, but rather that our current systems are not built for the current size of our nation.

Americans and politicians alike do not realize the opportunity that quality software offers in solving this problem. The failure of a caucus reporting app should not be used as an argument against government software. Rather, the failure of the caucus app should serve as a reminder that we need to rethink the way our government utilizes technology. I am not advocating for an overhaul of our government; I am advocating for the integration of modern software into our government.

With great software, politicians and government officials can have more meaningful relationships with their constituents.

Adopting Technology

Many argue that integrating it into our government just adds additional security vulnerabilities to the system. This concern was even articulated after the Iowa Caucus debacle — wasn’t the app an added security risk? While this seems plausible, it is grossly untrue. Paper is easy to misplace, lose, or even steal, and paper files are cumbersome to back up. Even phone lines, used as a backup the night of the caucuses, are vulnerable to a denial of service attack, which would render them useless.

However, when implemented correctly, software that adheres to standard security measures is much more secure than paper-based systems. Software makes it much harder for rogue employees to steal documents, nearly impossible to misplace paperwork, and trivial to back-up everything. Today, anyone working in the software space would agree that software solutions are more secure than paper for most situations.

Looking Ahead

With all of this in mind, what can we take away from the Iowa caucus app failure?

The crash shows that in order for software to work for government, the right solution needs to be implemented through collaboration between software experts and government actors. As a technologist with a passion for government systems, I’ve decided to tackle this problem: I am working on Polimorphic to build the technology that our government desperately needs. We are building a civic engagement platform to make the process of engaging with our politicians and government effortless and delightful. For our elected officials and municipalities, Polimorphic provides sophisticated CRM technology to empower them to engage with their constituents and handle constituent requests. By working on both sides of the problem, we believe we can transform the way Americans interact with those who represent them.

Working within the government can be incredibly exciting. A new policy initiatives have the potential to impact millions of lives. The passage of a single piece of legislation can lift many out of poverty, give Americans the education they need, or solve some of our most pressing healthcare issues. Just like policy, software has the ability to scale rapidly. With the ubiquity of today’s internet access, software solutions have the capacity to transform millions of lives with the click of a button. When put together, government and technology can truly be leveraged to transform millions of lives. It is about time we provide our government with the software it deserves. I hope that the debacle at the Iowa caucuses will highlight our government’s dire need for good software — and more importantly, the potential for software to make dramatic changes within it.

Check out Polimorphic.com for more information. You can reach me at ben@polimorphic.com with ideas/thoughts/inquiries/feedback.