Aside from a RWNJ conspiracy theory now being spread, the complexity of running a caucus system with new software app and staffed by volunteers has waylaid the Iowa caucus results temporarily.
DES MOINES — She couldn't get the mobile app to work. And she couldn't get through to the state party. So Linda Nelson, the Democratic chairwoman in Pottawattamie County, chose her next best option: Facebook.
“HELP!” she wrote, describing how she kept getting an error message on the app she needed to report caucus-night returns to the Iowa Democratic Party, the group tasked with the high-profile responsibility of beginning the process of choosing a presidential nominee.
After years of preparation designed to prevent the chaos and confusion that marred the caucuses in 2016, and after careful planning aimed at preventing the spread of conspiracy theories by hostile foreign actors, Democrats began their high-stakes nominating contest Monday under a cloud of uncertainty and dysfunction. Shortly before midnight, the caucuses were in a state of suspended confusion — with precincts unable to communicate results, state party officials huddling with aides to the top candidates and, above all, a blemish on the process held out by the state as a model of civic engagement.