Democratic Party leaders are trying to assure voters that the Nevada Democratic caucuses will run smoothly.
Recent reports indicated that the Nevada caucuses may encounter a similar error that led to days of chaos after the Iowa caucuses — which led to the resignation of the Iowa Democratic Party’s (IDP) chairman, Troy Price.
However, Xochitl Hinojosa, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), told Fox News that she was confident the Nevada Democratic Party — which runs the caucuses — had taken proper precautions to prevent a repeat of the Iowa caucus debacle.
“I have confidence in the state party here. I have spent the last few days with them, and I have seen firsthand that they do want to get this right. They want to make sure that they have accurate reporting.”
The results of the Iowa caucuses, which took place on Feb. 3, were delayed for days after an error occurred in the app used to tabulate the results.
After days of chaos and reports that there were inconsistencies in the results, the Iowa Democratic Party announced that an independent investigation was being conducted to determine what caused the delay in the reporting of the results.
Additionally, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) campaign said it would request a partial recount of the results after the IDP said a recanvass did not lead to any changes in the results — which found former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg winning the most delegates with Sanders in second place.
DNC Chairman Tom Perez called the situation in Iowa “unacceptable” and promised that the national party would work to make sure future Democratic caucuses went off without a hitch.
Perez told CNN on Wednesday, “I have a lot of confidence in Nevada, a really, really strong party. We have gone to school on the lessons of Iowa. We’re as low-tech as humanly possible while still preserving efficiency.”
“We’re as low-tech as humanly possible while still preserving efficiency,” DNC Chairman Tom Perez says about preparations in Nevada to avoid a repeat of the Iowa caucuses. “I’m very confident that we will be able to carry out a successful caucus.”https://t.co/wm04SZOnRO pic.twitter.com/nIDeaJzA2p
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) February 19, 2020
But, Politico reports that volunteers involved in running the Nevada caucuses, which occur on Feb. 22, said they feel that they have not been properly trained on new iPads used to transmit the results from the precincts.
Additionally, some volunteers told Politico that they feel the party has not explained how to use the Google form used to calculate the vote totals.
However, Hinojosa said she is confident the Nevada Democratic Party is “doing everything they can to implement lessons learned from Iowa.”