Nevada Democrats are trying to avoid repeating the Iowa caucus debacle — here’s how

The state party has said that it consulted with Google, the Department of Homeland Security and the Democratic National Committee on their process. Though the party has said very little about its testing process, the spokesperson said that it was reviewed by third-party experts as well.

Allowing a review by DHS is another welcome change from the Iowa process. DHS said earlier this month it had offered to vet the Iowa application, but Democratic officials in Iowa denied knowledge of DHS’ offer.

The Government Accountability Office slammed the Department of Homeland Security just three days after the Iowa caucuses for failing to release a formal plan for security during the 2020 campaign.

“Election primaries begin in February. However, CISA has not yet completed its strategic and operations plans to help state and local officials safeguard the 2020 elections or documented how it will address prior challenges,” the GAO said. CISA is the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency, a division of DHS.

The reporting failures in Iowa ultimately prompted Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price to resign and have raised questions about the integrity of the final results.

Read more: Iowa caucus: Here’s a map of precincts where the data appear to be irregular

The NBC News Decision Desk did not declare a winner of the race, and NBC News, CNBC and other outlets independently uncovered a number of apparent inconsistencies in the data.

The Iowa Democratic Party agreed to conduct a partial recanvass, or audit, of the results following requests from two of the candidates, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who both appeared to be vying for the lead.

The recanvass narrowed the gap between Buttigieg and Sanders in the count of State Delegate Equivalents, or the traditional method of declaring a winner. Both candidates subsequently called for a partial recount involving 63 precincts. A recount is a more thorough method of verifying accurate results.

— Tucker Higgins reported from Las Vegas, and Kate Fazzini reported from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/21/nevada-caucus-democrats-are-trying-to-avoid-repeating-iowa-debacle.html