Nevada Caucuses 2020: Democrats Fear Repeat of Iowa Chaos

Democrats are working to avoid a repeat of the chaos surrounding the Iowa caucuses as they prepare for Saturday's Nevada caucuses to choose a Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump. #NevadaCaucus #NevadaCaucuses #NevadaCaucuses2020

Party officials won't commit to releasing the unofficial results of Saturday's Nevada caucuses on the day of the vote, as they emphasize accuracy over speed in the aftermath of the chaos surrounding the Iowa caucuses.

Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he doesn't know when the results will be released. He said several factors, including early voting and potentially high turnout, could affect the tabulation and timing of results. In addition, Nevada, like Iowa, will be reporting three sets of data from the multistage caucus process.

"There are concerns that Nevada could have - well, there was the old movie, My Own Private Idaho - and that Nevada could have its Own Public Iowa," said Michael Green, a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Unlike the November general election and state primaries that are run by state and local election officials, the caucuses are administered by state parties.

Election officials, in general, have been raising concerns about public expectations to report results quickly, noting that totals reported on Election Day are unofficial. It takes weeks for votes to become official, after the results are checked and any irregularities are investigated. Election experts say it's better to slow down reporting if problems surface to ensure results are accurate.

A rushed effort by Iowa Democrats to deploy a mobile app to caucus organizers for sending in results ended in failure, with some volunteers unable to download it to their personal cellphones or access it and a coding error muddying the data that was sent in.

Nevada Democrats were going to use the same mobile app developer as Iowa, but quickly sidelined those plans. Instead, they will deploy party-owned, internet-connected iPads to precincts that will come with a Google form that will be used to access early vote totals, perform calculations during the caucus process and, ultimately, submit results electronically to the party.

The Google app and iPads are trusted commercial tech tools, but election experts have warned that developing and deploying any technology late in the process increases the risk of problems. Hundreds of volunteers need training, and the technology must also be field-tested.

In addition, Nevada Democrats offered early voting for the first time — another layer of complexity that Iowa didn't attempt.

Party officials have emphasized that a multistep process will be used to verify results that will include calling in results to a secure hotline and a paper worksheet that will be completed at each precinct and delivered to a party office. They have also been holding numerous trainings, with 55 sessions before Saturday.

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