GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann.
The leaders of Iowa’s two major political parties have unveiled some of the details of the new “app” for reporting results of the February 1, 2016 Iowa Caucuses. Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann calls it a “new technological era” for the party-run precinct caucuses.
“That’s one of the reasons why we’re approaching this with a lot of enthusiasm and, quite frankly, a little bit of nervousness,” Kaufmann said today during a conference call with reporters.
But Kaufmann said having the app developed by Microsoft has calmed most of those nerves. The company donated the programming time for the new app.
“It’s been interesting, educational and enjoyable — all at the same time,” Freck said, “and we’re looking forward to a great Caucus night on February 1,” said Stan Freck, Microsoft’s senior director of campaign technology.
Someone at each precinct will be designated as the person who may use a smart phone to tabulate and report their precinct’s results on Caucus night. Iowa Democratic Party chair Andy McGuire said while the app isn’t available to the public yet, precinct leaders are getting a tutorial.
“Our Caucus team has held many regional trainings all across the state so far,” she said, “and will continue to hold trainings this month.”
Cross-checks have been built into the system and it will be up to party leaders to trigger the “app” so the results will be available to the public. If the results as “razor thin” as they were in the 2012 Iowa Republican Party Caucuses, the Iowa GOP’s chairman says they’ll wait as long as it takes to make sure the results are accurate.
As you may recall, Mitt Romney was declared the winner on January 3, 2012, but two weeks later after a canvas of the paperwork submitted by most of the GOP precincts, Rick Santorum was declared the victor.