DES MOINES, Iowa — The firm that developed the app blamed for chaos during the Iowa caucuses issued an apology.
“We sincerely regret the delay in the reporting of the results of last night’s Iowa caucuses and the uncertainty it has caused to the candidates, their campaigns, and Democratic caucus-goers,” Shadow Inc. tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
We sincerely regret the delay in the reporting of the results of last night’s Iowa caucuses and the uncertainty it has caused to the candidates, their campaigns, and Democratic caucus-goers.
— Shadow, Inc. (@ShadowIncHQ) February 4, 2020
While Shadow acknowledged faults with its “process to transmit” the data gathered through the app to the Iowa Democratic Party, the company stood by its “underlying data and collection process.” Meanwhile, some of its investors have distanced themselves from the technology start-up.
“We will apply the lessons learned in the future, and have already corrected the underlying technology issue,” the statement said. “We take these issues very seriously, and are committed to improving and evolving to support the Democratic Party’s goal of modernizing its election processes.”
We will apply the lessons learned in the future, and have already corrected the underlying technology issue. We take these issues very seriously, and are committed to improving and evolving to support the Democratic Party’s goal of modernizing its election processes.
— Shadow, Inc. (@ShadowIncHQ) February 4, 2020
The Iowa Democratic Party on Tuesday morning faulted coding errors in the app, which was designed to help caucus sites report precinct alignment and delegate results from the first-in-the-nation nominating contest. Nevada, another caucus state hosting its nominating contest on Feb. 22, announced later in the day it is ditching the same technology.
The Iowa state party is expected to release partial results from the caucuses at 5 p.m. EST, but the damage may have already been done.
Some candidates, such as Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar, have either claimed victory or hinted at stronger-than-expected performances based on internal numbers while Joe Biden’s campaign sowed seeds of doubt about the integrity of the proceedings.
Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price and his team are in the throes of verifying the results and quashing concerns about possible human error.
Monday night’s issues were foreshadowed earlier in the afternoon when caucus chairmen and chairwomen complained of experiencing technical difficulties with the app.
