Iowa drops the ball

You had one job to do Iowa. Iowa, proud of its first in the nation vote for President, dropped the ball on this one. And as a result, we are left wondering who actually won the democratic presidential caucus in the Hawkeye state. By yesterday morning, we still didn’t know who won, with party officials blaming an app used to tabulate the results. Ironically, the app, being used for the first time, was designed to speed up the process of reporting results. They say there was no hacking, but this isn’t exactly the kind of thing that strengthens the integrity of our elections. As a result of the debacle, candidates could not declare victory and show they have the momentum heading into the vote in New Hampshire. It is a muddled mess. There were signs leading up to Monday’s caucus that the app may not be reliable. And apparently despite pleas to test the app in advance, that wasn’t done in Iowa. They must be nervous in Arizona, where the same app is to be used to tabulate results in that state’s primary later this month. No doubt the Iowa implosion will lead to calls for changing the current system. The state already faced criticism for its quirky caucus process, and the fact that Iowa voters are hardly representative of the country’s diversity and shouldn’t play such an important role in the election process. Good luck staying first Iowa, because four years from now your caucus may not be nearly as important to the process of electing presidents.