USA TODAY International Edition
Dems’ app, tested by 3rd party, was designed for faster results
With the threat of election result interference looming, the Iowa Democratic Party took steps to make Monday’s caucuses more technologically secure with results that were robust.
Party officials even decided there was an app for that.
Unfortunately, there were issues with the app and instead of Democrats turning their focus toward the Feb. 11 New Hampshire primary, there were still no returns Tuesday morning from Iowa. Partial results came that evening.
The chaos is expected to have repercussions in the short term for the candidates who aren’t sure yet how they performed, and in the long term for the Iowa caucus process itself.
App’s aim was faster results
The Iowa Democratic Party, which originally had considered a virtual caucus, in which voters did not physically have to show up to be counted, opted to create a smartphone app to help caucus managers tabulate and transmit results – the end result being to get results released more quickly to the public.
The decision was set in motion before we learned of a “sweeping and systematic” Russian effort to undermine the 2016 presidential election process.
The Iowa Democratic Party has said the app was tested by an independent third party, but it did not release much information. That’s because top cybersecurity experts said releasing too much information about the app could result in the developer being targeted.
But that strategy opened the door for potential misuse of misinformation, according to Ashlee Benge, threat researcher for Baltimore- headquartered cybersecurity firm ZeroFox.
“This confusion could be exploited by candidates or others with an interest in a particular candidate, in order to perpetuate misinformation about a candidate’s success or lack thereof,” she told USA TODAY. “This could ultimately be used to influence voter opinion in future votes and potentially sway election results.”
So what was the issue?
Early Monday evening, party officials began reporting that some precinct officials could not log into the app. One issue apparently was confusion with PINs, reported KCRG, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ABC television station.
Precinct chairwoman Ruth Thompson told KCRG that organizers had problems trying to download and test the app. “We came to a consensus not to use it,” said Thompson.
Emily Duff, who volunteered as a captain for U. S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign Monday night, expressed concerns about the app before her caucus. Duff’ s precinct in the gym at Hoover High School in Des Moines wound up reporting results manually, she said.
Precinct chairs did not have to use the app but could also tabulate results manually – a paper trail is included as a planned redundancy in the system – and call them into a hotline. But telephones were jammed, too.
“We understand that caucus chairs are attempting to – and, in many cases, failing to – report results telephonically to the party. These acute failures are occurring statewide,” wrote Dana Remus, general counsel for Biden for President, in a letter to the Iowa Democratic Party Executive Director Kevin Geiken and chairman Troy Price late Monday, saying the party’s new app and its backup phone hotline failed.
So did the app work or not?
Apparently, when the app was used to report results, not all of the data came through, a discrepancy officials noted Monday but could not explain at the time.
“As part of our investigation, we determined with certainty that the underlying data collected via the app was sound. While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data,” party chairman Troy Price said in a statement Tuesday morning. “We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system. This issue was identified and fixed. The application’s reporting issue did not impact the ability of precinct chairs to report data accurately.”
The system’s redundant paper trail was being used to verify and calculate the results, he said. “While our plan is to release results as soon as possible today, our ultimate goal is to ensure that the integrity and accuracy of the process continues to be upheld.”
Issues could likely be averted with “a digital disaster plan” including stages such as a pilot run and improved field testing and training, says Theresa Payton, who was chief information officer for the White House for President George W. Bush and is founder and CEO of Fortalice Solutions, a cybersecurity consulting firm.
“People are pointing at the app, but it’s not just the app. It’s all the processes when the app failed that didn’t work either,” said Payton.
Where did the app come from?
The app was created by a company called Shadow Inc. and issued by Jimmy Hickey of Shadow Inc., metadata of the program that the Des Moines Register analyzed Tuesday shows. A LinkedIn profile for Hickey lists him as COO of Shadow and an engineering manager for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Company officials did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment. However, the company’s Twitter account had a comment Tuesday afternoon: “We sincerely regret the delay in reporting of the results of last night’s Iowa caucuses and the uncertainty it has caused the candidates, their campaigns, and the Democratic caucus- goers.”
The Iowa Democratic and Republican parties had worked with Harvard’s Defending Digital Democracy Project to develop strategies and systems to protect results and deal with any misinformation that was reported on caucus night.
Price did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday about the relationship between the party and Shadow, which it paid $ 63,184 for website development and travel expenses, according to reports filed with the Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board.