What a fiasco! America is watching and taking notes, New Hampshire.
Please, at least act like you’re prepared.
Iowa - thanks for nothing!
1
One thing this proves is the critical value of paper trails.
One frustration with elections is the failure to accept that while we seem to "need" to know the results that same night, the real work takes much longer. Absentee ballots, provisional ballots, and challenged ballots all take time to count and the former, plus the accepted latter two are just as valid as those counted more immediately.
But even in very close races, the perceived need to know the winner immediately does damage the standard that every vote counts.
47
@msprinker I am not an expert, but it seems this is could EVENTUALLY be overcome by things like block chain technology. There are literally billions of transactions that take place reliably without paper back up. In this case they are claiming they have the paper, they don't have the staff to do the counting.
3
@TrueNorth60 Perhaps it can. I do worry about the rush to yet another "new tecnology" before thorough testing. Having seen more than a few "ready to deploy" major software programs in my old federal department of 25,000 (not that all needed access to each of those) fail to deliver, i think we are a long way from a nationwide program which is truly reliable and useable by all or nearly all voters. By the way, those programs I mentioned were all developed by various companies (most federal agencies and most all states and local jurisdictions are forced by law or threat of lawsuit to use low bid for such work and often small companies which claim, but seem to not always have, the experience and ability to deliver a functioning product).
With votes, i think it will be a long time before voters are willing to trust electronic voting without a means to confirm the count based on something "hard". Too many problems in various locations and security breaches. And not enough people who are experts in the technology to work in the over 3000 counties in the US who are willing to work for far less than tech firms pay.
3
@TrueNorth60 And the block chain has no way to verify who is buying and selling ie voting.
1
A lot of blame is aimed at the App designers, but it's the party leaders that made the decision introduce an App into the information flow at the last minute, to report more fine grained data than any previous caucus, to not train its volunteers, and to stress test the system.
The App designers were under a lot of pressure, and they screwed up. But the Democratic Party leadership set the system up for failure by their decision-making.
30
@JFR They app designers must have said they could do it so great on their part is a big issue. They should have said no, it can't be done with the degree of confidence you need for this application. Toob risky given the criteria. Often the people asking for things are ignorant of the complexities. Good app developers know that.
3
It's all about the rollout of this app. Big mistake. No soft launch. No sample submissions. No coordination. Just a "here it is now use it". This is similar to launching an orbital manned rocket without ever actually trying any of its components it out on the launch pad or firing a missle that was never tested. No training of personnel. No simulations. Another Max 8 blunder. What could go wrong? Why don't people learn from previous screw ups with similar fact patterns? All this resulted in was: 1. a mess and embarrassment, 2. fuel for GOP. Always anticipate the worst outcomes and then plan accordingly from that point!
18
@Loud and Clear The only thing I would add is that the "rocket" blew up before the evening was over, No platform issues were discussed in my ward. A clear win for Trump
5
I concur w other commenters that it is unbelievable that there was no soft launch of app, no thorough training of volunteers, no testing or focus groups that allowed feedback to Iowa Democratic Party or app developers. In all likelihood this feedback would probably have offered recommendations of No App! and no new and confusing procedures! As someone who has designed and tested online apps, I still think for our elections, paper is the most secure. Still, we shouldn't over romanticize paper either. I witnessed miscounting in close elections (where I was a candidate precinct watcher) that would have given the election win to the wrong person. Keep in mind this was counting ballots quickly late at night in a precinct. That's why I agree w those who advocate early voting and mail in paper ballots. Sometimes low tech and a longer process works best. And if you MUST do something new GET feedback. Otherwise you are Iowa and Iowa is the new hanging chad... (Nevada you can avoid these mistakes, see above)
4
All I have are questions. Why didn't Iowa allow Homeland Security to vet the app when it offered to? Why didn't Iowa test it properly before deploying it? Knowing they were tripling the number of figures to be reported, why didn't they add more phone lines for reporting? Why did they use one phone number for help requests as well as queries? Even Donald Trump could have anticipated problems there. And last but not least, exactly what was Mayor Pete paying for when he gave Shadow, the company making the app, $42,500?
3
Unbeknownst to the DNC, Bernie also has an app to report results of the caucus. Guess what, the reports from that app differ from that of the DNC, and closely follow polling numbers which show Bernie in the lead. The DNC would never try to alter the outcome of an election, would they?
4
You know, it's just a sign of the transforming times that this happened. I really don't think everyone needs to take it as hard or as 'condemning' as they are, especially The Times! C'mon guys, technology happens. Iowa should never had held such sway and the Cosmic Whomever took care of it! Yay for counting paper. Let's move on! I'm looking foward to seeing as many of the candidates as I can who come to Philly!
2
One cannot help but wonder how an app in this day and age could not transmit accurate data from basic math. Yes, the Iowa caucuses are arcane and complicated for anyone who believes in one person/one vote, but the math itself is simple for a computer.
This terrible breach of trust needs thorough investigation. As a Democrat I am appalled by the ineptitude, insider contracting, and complete negligence of the DNC. Likewise, I'm wondering why the NYTimes doesn't include the popular vote, where Sanders is ahead, in its accounting of Iowa.
American elections are in peril.
3
Paper was good enough for the Egyptians; it should be good enough for the rest of us.
2
As a computer engineer, I ask why are we even using apps in elections. They are incredibly vulnerable to attack and should have nothing to do with our elections. Could it be that our political parties want computer technology for the simple reason that it is easy to corrupt?
9
Many things went wrong. But it’s the crazy caucus system that underlies them all. That and the stupidity of using anything but VOTING one by one - in secret - using PAPER BALLOTS - COUNTED BY HAND.
That should be the ONE METHOD we decide to use - whether in a primary or election.
Candidates should be vetted by a party first.
Elections - including primaries - should be weeks long. Not years long!
Elections should be paid for from the public purse. With strict limits. Policed by non-partisan boards.
Gerrymandering should, be forbidden.
The Electoral College must be disbanded or changed so as to be a check on the Electorate - as our Founders originally planned.
The make-up of the Senate must be reflective of the Electorate at large - to prevent Minority Rule, where small states have way more power than large states. So that never again do we wind up with one Party control of our Legislative Body.
If I’ve forgotten anything important, I’m sure the Commentariat will remind me.
6
Tom Perez needs to go! First, by not agreeing to have Fox host a debate, he lost a great opportunity for the Democratic candidates to present their unfiltered positions to Trump voters. Now, we have this unbelievable app debacle brought about by some of the same inept crew that managed to ignore key battleground states because they believed the inevitability hype surrounding Hillary. The flawed leadership of the DNC will hamstring the Democratic nominee at a time when the country can least afford it.
6
A cellphone app is what they decided to go with? Brutal.
1
The fiasco part of this is the public relations part. No one should promise same night results. In fact, they need to say “it’s going to take a while. “
Anyone who cares about democracy needs to think about this. It takes time to count votes. That is, if they’re on paper. Paper is the safest way, because it can’t be hacked.
This crazy 24/7 news cycle is the enemy of democracy. At least when it comes to voting.
6
The part about not being able to log in is troubling because a cause might be that the underlying databases that matched location and password might have been changed. This change could be because an app creator was careless and saved over with a beta file or someone deliberately altered a database so that the precinct and the password no longer matched. The causes need to be thoroughly investigated.
7
Question: are we such an "instant gratification" country that we can't wait a few days for accurate results? We're not that far removed from the generations that waited sometimes endlessly for voting results. Perhaps the malfunctions in Iowa will teach us a lesson. Let us take heed of the words from the Mueller Report that warned the nation of outside interference in our most sacred tradition. Am not implying there was malfeasance in the Iowa caucus. I think it is, and certainly should be a wake up call to the country to take our time in tabulating results, the 11pm news be damned.
10
My Dad, may his soul rest in peace, was an engineer. He was always fond of quoting Murphy's Law: If a piece of equipment is going to fail, it will fail when you need it the most.
So an untested app was heavily relied upon to "streamline" the Iowa Caucus results. Gee, what could go wrong?
The solution is not another app. The solution is removing Iowa's place at the head of the pack when it comes to early determination of who the Democratic candidate is likely to be.
Even if the app had worked perfectly, I could not have witnessed a more convoluted, confusing, contentious and conflicted process than what took place in over 1600 gymnasiums in a small, mostly white, mostly rural state.
Time for the Dems to figure out a better way. Time for the Dems to do a lot of figuring if the party wants to take back the White House in November.
13
@Len Waaaay past time to run a proper primary. Iowa insists on running crazy caucuses so they can "Be first"--a 2-yr-old schoolyard fight, ...and it's not only the app. Ever try to count ballots with results on both sides for the same candidates?
2
Here in Oregon all elections use only mail in ballots. Being elderly I might not go to a caucus on a winter night. I like to vote while reading candidate and issue statements at home.
18
I see the Iowa experience as foreshadowing humankind's response to climate change. Let's try some age-old approach, again, and see how that works. We'll also throw a bit uf untested technology towards it and expect that to fly. Results: in the short term, chaos. Long-term: oops, too late!
3
When we are talking about voter suppression in many of our states, why are we not addressing the use of caucuses to chose our candidates. These antiquated processes are designed to limit voter participation. Many are not able to spend 2-3 hours away from work, parenting, and/or caregiving responsibilities. Also, in our caustic times, many folks are not comfortable with publicly proclaiming their political choices for fear of harassment at the event and in future engagements with their neighbors. If we want to encourage citizens to engage in the electoral process, it should not be treated as a church social.
13
@Janelle Carron these are not quite the same thing. A primary is run by the party. The party gets to make the rules. You can join the party and lobby for different rules, and if enough people do that the rules will change. People might not like the way Democrats run things, but look, at least some of The party has embraced a non-Democrat as a presidential candidate.
The government runs elections. The government’s job is to have fair elections, elections based on law. The government is not a voluntary organization like a political party. There are many political parties, they are not run by the government. That would not be a good thing. Sometimes the parties mess up.
I couldn’t agree more that there are unfair practices in voting. That needs to change Generations of people have fought to make voting more fair. It’s disheartening that we still have to fight for that to happen, but we do.
1
The sad thing about this is not so much that the Democrats were incompetent, but rather that they were so naive as to think that doing this was smart. The same thing unfortunately is true for scores of Dem policy proposals -- great in principle, but extremely naive if you think it will work out in practice.
Marx (not Groucho) said "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." It's a wonderful idealistic principle, but how has that worked out in the places that claimed to have implemented it in total?
3
@a.p.b. Believe me, the whole process was created and run by incompetents:
1. Training manuals were wrong.
2. No training on counting cards (ballots) a new process.
3. Cards had results on both sides making sorting the count extrememly confusing.
Ability is low; needs are high--a sure disaster even for Marx.
1
A statement from the Mueller Report that continues to haunt me is, "GRU officers also targeted individuals and entities involved in the administration of elections. Victims included U.S. state and local entities, such as state boards of elections, secretaries of state, and county governments, as well as individuals who worked for those entities. The GRU also targeted private technology firms responsible for manufacturing and administering election-related software and hardware, such as voter registration software and electronic polling stations. ... While the investigation identified evidence that the GRU targeted these individuals and entities, the Office did not investigate further. ... The Office understands that the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the states have separately investigated that activity. (p.50)
I wonder what the separate investigations discovered? I wonder what the paper trail would reveal about the 2016 elections? I wonder if the relatively small number of people involved in the Iowa caucuses created the opportunity for inconsistencies to be noticed that will not be detected in a much larger election system? I wonder if the Iowa failures are an anomaly, or are they an example of flaws in our system that usually are not detected? Does our perceived need for immediate results create an environment where we are willing to avoid rigorous consistency testing to make sure that other “bugs” have not infected our entire electoral system?
9
@Deb Vote Blue! Use paper!
3
News you could use,
No mention of actual state wide testing of the program was
mentioned.
No practice using the app, sounds like a rush job by decision
makers who had never worked a program before or never used
a smart phone.
3
My inner "conspiracy theorist" is screaming. Yeah, paper systems are slow but they cannot be "hacked" or otherwise disrupted by somebody sitting in a room far-far-away undetected by the "APP" users. We must keep in mind that there are forces out there who have the singular mission of disruption.
As regards all the hand-wringing of those who promoted the "APP" - these caucuses have been going on and working a lot longer than there have been smart phone apps.
My antenna goes up when I read that the APP results aren't even close to the pre-caucus polls. To me that is the red-flag that says the disruptions are underway. Chaos is the enemy (the irony of the old TV Sitcom is not lost on me).
I'm not a technophobe but technophilia is just as dangerous and this is just the beginning of the campaign. Much more disruption to come. My bet it that the Trump Administration will not launch the FBI to investigate - chaos works in their favor, so why try to stop it?
7
I’d call this a success!
A success in demonstrating why we should be using paper ballots for everything! It worked as it should
Those who want instant results need to weigh that against hacking. Hacking by the Russians. Hacking by the opposing candidates. Hacking by middle school kids who want to have fun.
If Jeff Bezos phone can be hacked, if your bank account, your credit card, your computer, your password, if all that can be hacked, why are we trusting our democracy to computers. Are we too impatient? Part of this is fueled by the media wanting things to go according to their schedule.
We need to be a bit patient if we want to hold onto our democracy.
9
As a contract IT project manager who has worked on poorly initiated programs, we need to realize that technology EMBODIES the creators intentions. No one has a magic wand particularly if project is poorly setup with a short timeline, and often a small budget.
New technology by its very nature is unstable, and more often that not, too many expectations are placed on those of us who create & manage software.
2
The high interest in the primaries and the long delays from counting paper ballots shows why we depend on computers in a country this size. But why not use what has worked in the past? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
2
If those were personal smartphones that were used to transmit the data, how on earth could you be certain that the data was secure? And that the phones were clear from viruses or malware?
18
As a long time Democrat and financial supporter of local and national candidates, I am as equally dismayed as the people outside of Iowa. Heads need to roll. Both in Scott County and on the state level. Locally a decision was made, by someone or a group of people, to have the caucus, for a city of 33,000 people in one building. Traffic was backed up in all directions as far as one could see. Parking all but impossible, people who walked got there much faster.The building was packed and people struggled to find the appropriate room. So many people in one place overwhelmed the volunteers. It was a total mess. Scott County Democrats, thanks for living up to the image so many of us local Democrats have of you!
10
@iowan Iowa Dems need to run a proper primary that runs all day with an absentee ballot option. I'm tired of being used as a fool (volunteer) with good intentions and trying to be Iowa Nice. Being "first" is a second grade goal.
4
The good news? A paper trail.
The bad news? Incredibly naive impulsive management decision making by the Iowa Democratic Party.
22
@tennisbum There was an attempt at a paper trail: Paper cards with results on both sides. Ever try to sort 2 results on one card into piles by hand? Even a second grader would have constructed a better paper trail.
2
The price tag for this project, $60,000, is far too low to design and rollout even this modest application (under 2,000 users). Specialized app development companies charging even $150 an hour (low) would have had 40 hours available if the work was done here and not offshored to outstanding coders in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and India.
The company, Shadow, with its deep ties to the failed Clinton campaign, and the Iowa Democratic Committee, should be thanked for hopefully ending Iowa's undeserved status as "first in the nation." Unintended consequences sometimes are positive.
14
@Rick Spanier The only way they could have built and rolled out that app so cheaply was by off-shoring. And with my experience with those projects...you get what you pay for.
2
In my town in New Hampshire, we use paper ballots. Election workers have to come to an all-morning training session before the election. It's boring because the process is just about the same every year. But the people who do it are our neighbors, not some faceless techie in cyberspace. And it works every time.
21
@PaleMale Iowa used paper ballots (presidential preference cards), and paper delegate forms, in triplicate. Delegate calculation worksheet was on paper, in triplicate.
Sorry, what was your point about paper again?
@PaleMale Love it! You don't have to be concerned about hackers if you have a paper trail and more than one person counting the results. All the lambasting of Iowa was uncalled for because they wanted to ensure the results were correct so they counted the paper ballots. The media is wrong to criticize a state who, in the end, is trying to do it the right way like New Hampshire!
2
could we please just go back to paper ballots? i'm a total environmentalist but come on...either develop something simple to use with a clear paper trail, etc or just go back to ballot counting the old way.
15
@David Iowa used paper ballots (presidential preference cards), and paper delegate forms, in triplicate. Delegate calculation worksheet was on paper, in triplicate.
Sorry, what was your point about paper again? Was it that paper takes a long time to collect, tabulate, and verify?
1
@David I think it is more about using the right technology, with plenty of development AND testing time (I think proper testing often takes as long or longer than development). National standards might also be a good idea. I would also guess that properly developed technology would have a short run cost that is very high, lowering only after repeated use. What they did here was a naive and negligent attempt to cut cost. They should have run a parallel old school and new school process with the old school being fully staffed for this kind of disaster.
1
We need #PaperBallots2020
12
So Democrats went into all of this impeachment drama knowing the outcome would not be in their favor, but seemed to hope for some sort of miracle. Then the Democrats Iowa caucus turned into a messy deflated cake because they used technology nobody knew how to operate, but assumed would work. If you want to beat Trump, please show good judgement and a sense of detail. Wishful thinking ain't gonna do it.
34
@Michael Kennedy The Democrats went into the impeachment because you can’t just sit idly by and not call out corruption. They knew they would lose, that’s why they waited so long.
The Democrats insured a paper trail and more transparency than previously. This was a large task. Big mistake was using any technology whatsoever. They should’ve just said we’re doing paper reports, having a paper trail, and it’s going to take a while. So just sit tight and wait. Democracy is worth a little bit of patience.
I don’t imagine the democraticIn Iowa has much money. They tried to do it on a shoestring. Theyshould’ve just gone with the old way.
Vote Blue! Use paper!
1
@Michael Kennedy
Well said! There is an atmosphere disconnected from reality at work here.
The slogan of my local Democratic Party is "Fighting the good fight." How absurd to use that as the basis for feeling good about your purpose as a party. I don't want Democrats to fight the good fight, I want them to win and to take power and to govern competently. Yet so many progressive activists seem happy just to fight the good fight and then go down losing.
3
Iowa messed up in a huge way, and it's time for another state to lead the way for the Democratic nomination process next time around.
6
This is all about the app, and the use of the app. But there is at least one underlying problem that isn't discussed: apparently there is some way that a candidate can "win the popular vote, and lose the election". Just like in the general election! Except it's not an Electoral College, it's buried in the arcane math of the caucuses. Maybe it's obvious if you know how the math works, but its a disaster even so.
There is something to be said for these caucuses, they get people together, interacting, and that's good. Maybe they should have a role. But it seems clear that they shouldn't be way the actual choice is made.
14
@John Bergstrom They can get together and interact with a potluck. PLEASE, Iowa, dispense with this unwieldy caucus silliness. They may seem quaint and charming but a primary is more inclusive. And efficient.
2
Remember the 2016 primary in California? Election results were delayed for about a month, putting the Sanders campaign at a disadvantage then, much like we are now seeing in Iowa. The Democratic Party is biased against Bernie.
7
@Jim If anythin, the Democratic party is biased toward Bernie where it uses caucuses or maybe I should say toward younger voters. We were able to see that in Washington State in 2016 where Hillary Clinton won the primary which is a vote vs. Bernie Sanders winning the caucus which selects out for people willing to endure a trying night often on their feet.
1
@Jim Q
And Bernie is biased against the Democratic Party, that he has managed not to join after all these years.
3
@Jim Q Being an Iowan, I don't think this debacle is due to a bias against Bernie. It's just plain incompetent and the adolescent need to be first--a reflection of Trump???
1
The main problem is Democratic Party of Iowa overestimated the intellectual capabilities of precinct chairs who cannot add or follow basic instructions.
3
@Chinnavadu The Dem Party of Iowa thought the chairs were mind readers--no training, wrong manuals, scripts were wrong, boxes of information were incomplete. No matter how smart, chairs were left to their own devices trying to make an antiquated, unfair process work. Hopefully this will end the caucus and install a proper primary.
2
The app worked as intended to sow chaos about the actual results of Bernie winning. Only 71% of votes in precincts favorable to Buttigieg have been reported, the remaining are favorable to Bernie have not been reported. And this paper still has a large graphic showing Buttigieg winning with very small letter showing only 71% results are in.
Gerard Niemira, a veteran of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, is the head of Shadow
17
As an Independent, I view the Democratic party as the best thing since sliced bread...for the Republican party! From where I stand the leaders of both parties are a disgrace to our nation.
This is the best you can do?!
6
A note of agreement with all the Comments writers who say the DNC leadership should be fired, starting with Tom Perez. Incompetence has long been the underlying fault line at the DNC. If they cared about us, if they wanted Trump out more than they want their jobs, they'd submit their resignations today.
14
@ijarvis State parties are independent of the DNC. Complain if you want, person from NYC, but at least learn the difference between the state party and the national party.
@ijarvis - Where would you get anyone better? Who would be responsible for hiring the replacements? What reason do you have to suppose that the hiring process would not turn into another goat rodeo?
Logically, it makes no sense to use this episode as emblematic of the Democrats’s capacity to manage other processes. But emotionally, it certainly taints the case for the government to run health care, which is 16% of the economy.
12
@Steve M
Healthcare is not a new app which runs on people’s cellphones.
Medicare and Medicaid are already run by the government.
15
@Steve M
I agree with both your points, but would add that, coming on top of the fiasco that surrounded the ACA roll-out, it does suggest either the Democrats as a group, or more likely our government independent of party, has lost the ability to run newly developed complex things. It plays into the Republicans hands when it comes to that large swatch of voters who despise Trump but fear progressive Democrats.
6
@Insider As a rule, large government software projects fail after going way over budget. The FBI one several years back is a case study. It mainly has to do with lack of in-house know-how to guide the project. There are many other examples.
2
We’ve been talking about the Iowa fiasco for 2 days instead of focusing on the winner... heads should roll starting with Tom Perez.
31
I mean this seems to solely be taking so long so the MSM can create a false narrative for Pete, who is supremely unelectable.
6
@Jeffrey K remember how many people thought Obama was unelectable. Ixm not saying it is likely, just that it makes no sense to say someone is unelectable, especially since very many of us thought Trump was also unelectable.
Whenever someone says this to me now, I think, okay, maybe they have a chance.
12
@Jeffrey K Wouldn't the better narrative have been for them to announce his win the night of the caucus? If anything, this hurts his narrative.
1
Just think of all us Democrats who have been donating our hard earned money to the candidates and Iowa blows the whole thing and now it's not clear people will trust the results. Makes me sick.
23
Who needs Russia when you have this kind of brilliant group thinking? Are people still dazzled by the word app? This is what happens when you take a solution and break it into a thousand problems.
23
How can the DNC think voters should believe that they are serious about changes that matter in people's lives and competent at governance when they are won't make changes that matter and demonstrate incompetence when it comes to the process of selecting the party's nominee?
17
No one but an amateur uses an untested technology for something this important. I'm married to a software developer, testing the product is a large part of the work.
This is unforgivable.
It is also highly problematic for the DNC to hire the same company to tabulate votes that is being hired and paid by some of the candidates. I'm outraged that anyone thought this was okay.
People at the top of this food chain need to lose their jobs.
67
@Mel People should learn to distinguish between the DNC and the state party organizations.
9
@Mel
Shadow, Inc., should return every penny of the money that has been forked over to them for this outrageous violation of basic software design/implementation procedures. They did not deliver what they promised to deliver.
1
I am entering the 30th year as an IT employee. Whoever led the app project needs to be fired. A two month timeline, for anything brand new to be implemented is crazy. To blame it on “coders”, as I’ve seen in some news reports is laughable. They messed up testing, training and roll out. Not available in app stores? That gives you a clue as to the quality of the product.
Thankfully my voting precinct still uses paper ballots, I would never ever trust a pure electronic election system.
64
@Momsaware Yes, thank goodness they recorded their results on paper forms. The idea of purely electronic voting is appalling.
18
@Momsaware Agree with everything you said except about paper ballots. Any voting system can be hacked or corrupted. The US has a long history of voting fraud - see NYC/Tammany Hall or Chicago/Thompson-Daley machine - which was all done with paper ballots.
In addition, voting rolls are kept on computers even for paper ballot systems. If I am outside actor wanting to sow the most discord in the 2020 election I would hack the county/municipal systems of certain key precincts and change the voting rolls. That way when people came in for their paper ballots on election day they wouldn't be allowed to vote because they weren't on the roll.
Consider how poorly prepared most states are to protect their IT systems against criminal attacks like ransomware. How simple do you think it would for a sophisticated nation state with almost unlimited hacking resources to attack our entire voting apparatus? Think about Paul Manafort in 2016 giving Trump polling data on a precinct level to his Russian intelligence contact, Konstantin Kilimnik.
3
@John Bergstrom However, Iowa's paper forms are a convoluted mess--opposing results on both sides of a card. If volunteers are to count, make it simple instead of trying to save money on paper. Volunteers are not stupid, but incompetent trainers and training materials are unforgivable.
1
The Democrats have started the 2020 race by coming across as utterly incompetent to lead the nation. Although it may be unjustified to think so, they have also lost trust. All this comes at a time when Trump had the megaphone in the State of the Union and is on the verge of being acquitted. This does not portend well for their chances in the 2020 Presidential or Congressional elections. Very disappointing and discouraging!!
30
All they could have done was setup a video conference call.
6
Thank you for this. Now I understand why the words "anger" and "chaos" in your original headline were not an exaggeration.
7
What a nightmare. I am a lifelong Democrat but this makes the party look like a bunch of bumbling idiots. If I were a new, undecided voter, I would not be drawn to support such a chaotic, incompetent party.
Iowa needs to give up its cherished role of first primary.
40
@Leigh Hancock The silver lining in all this incompetence is that Democrats will start looking more closely at Bloomberg. He appears more competent than Sanders and certainly Biden; He has more experience than Buttigieg, his policies on health care, taxes etc are moderate left and he has Trump beat hands down on "the economy," and has plenty of money to reach out to voters.
11
@Mike I agree. Bloomberg doesn't have national experience governing, but he does have solid managerial experience.
1
@Mike The candidates with any understanding of technology and apparent competence and realism are Bloomberg and Yang. However, Steyer at least has a track record of picking winners, but he is an extremist.