“We will not be employing the same app or vendor used in the Iowa caucus,” assured Nevada State Democratic Party Chair William McCurdy II this week. It’s a message that comes as Iowa’s “first in the nation” Democratic caucus continues to struggle with reporting results from all precincts three days after their event.
However financial records indicate that using Shadow’s app, which is said to have played a part in Iowa’s caucus troubles, was in the initial plans for Nevada’s Democratic party. The organization paid more than $50,000 to Shadow Inc. at the end of 2019.
“We had already developed a series of backups and redundant reporting systems, and are currently evaluating the best path forward,” said McCurdy.
What that path is remains to be said, as Nevada Democrats would not provide any further details of their plans and did not supply any additional comments despite several requests.
Meanwhile the Washoe County Registrar of Voters distanced itself from the issue, reminding the community that they are not a part of the caucuses in Nevada.
“The Registrar of Voters office doesn’t administer or organize any of the caucuses in Nevada,” said Amy Ventetuolo, Public Information Officer for the Washoe County Registrar of Voters. “We are still in large part the voice of elections in Washoe County and we want to make sure that we’re educating the community on where they can go, if not us, for the information that they may be seeking.”
The process for this year’s Nevada Democratic Caucus is two-fold. Early voting through the Nevada Democratic Party is Feb. 15-18 at sites throughout the region. Precinct caucuses, led by party volunteers, will be held at community locations on Feb. 22. For details visit https://nvdems.com/early-vote/
Voting in primary elections administered through the Washoe County Registrar of Voters is May 23 through June 5, 2020. For more information on primary elections and voting locations visit https://www.washoecounty.us/voters/
Additional reporting by Don Dike-Anukam
Correction: This post has been updated to differentiate between Washoe County primary election voting in May/June and Nevada Democratic Party voting in coordination with the Democratic Caucus in February.
