
The Death of Iowa - smacktoward
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/04/the-death-of-iowa-110655
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gumby
This looks political but I think it raises a different, more important point
about the naïveté people exhibit when it comes to software and complex
technology. This was exhibited by the developers of course who promised and/or
agreed to a time scale that did I not include any sort of reasonable
performance or user testing, but also the faith that the elections folks had
that magical technology could simply spring from the ground fully grown like
Athena from the head of Zeus.

In addition, whatever you think of the Iowa process, this was in the end a
technology failure and unless the tech was deployed to address some other
deficiency (which as far as I know it was not — it was just intended to be an
optimization), it’s failure should change nothing.

However the failure could be used as a scapegoat. It brings to mind the 2000
election in which a technology failure (of a manual punch) lead to a rushed
adoption of a worse approach that had the gloss of magical computerism.

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kjaftaedi
I see it as a flaw to even consider needing complex technology.

Elections are a system that require little more than simple addition.
Encryption is helpful for authentication and data protection, but this
technology exists already and just needs implemented.

If you've gotten to the point where you've made counting complex, you have
failed IMHO.

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Fjolsvith
Perhaps its the ability to manipulate the results that gummed up the works?

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gumby
Cute but unlikely. They did keep a complete paper record so anyone concerned
could do a recount.

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Fjolsvith
Then why has a full count taken so long to do? The paper records were supposed
to be failsafe.

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simonblack
It may look old-fashioned, but you can't beat paper and pencil ballots, with
counts watched carefully by scrutineers from all the major parties, and the
results sent to a central tally-room where once again, scrutineers from all
the major parties can act as checks and balances to ensure that the final
results are accurate and wide-spread.

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Doches
This is straight politics. From the HN guidelines:

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're
> evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or
> disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's
> probably off-topic.

~~~
RileyJames
Except the whole debacle springs from a spectacular series of software
failures, making this somewhat relevant.

How bad can a few bugs be? Bad enough to destroy the hopes of 7 presidential
contenders making it to the White House?

Maybe that’s an overstatement, but it makes the party look incompetent, and by
association, all the nominees. What does it take to convince someone not to
vote? How about “they’ll probably just mess up your vote anyway, look at
Iowa”. And yes, that’s a dumb statement, and no, as we’ve seen that doesn’t
make it unconvincing one. The narrative is key, and the narrative is bad. And
it was a poorly implemented piece of software that caused it.

Seems like something worth talking about.

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cryptonector
Oh hai. I have a bridge to sell you. It's in New York City. It's in good
shape. You can make really good money on the tolls. Drop me a line!

