There is a wide array of issues with the election system in the United States. This is clear for anyone to see. From compromised technologies to uncounted votes, America struggles with each election to demonstrate confidence in the voting process. Amazement sweeps my mind when I even consider the idea of using a caucus to measure a state’s voting, but that’s where we are in 2020. Today’s issue is being described as a problem with an app withholding results due to a coding error.

Iowa used an app developed for the caucus that collected all the voting data from each precinct, but due to hiccups getting the data out, only some of that data was produced. This caused a delay in results that triggered hilarity as news anchors had nothing to talk about. CNN shamefully tried counting the votes themselves using footage from the precincts. Chaos ensued among many televised sources. No one had the answer we were all waiting up to hear last night, and technology was all there was to blame.

Now just consider the concept that the state of Iowa was so set on continuing to use a caucus to cast their votes that they paid an app developer $60,000 to tally an aged system. Given, the current technology for the polls isn’t very reliable either, the 2016 election is veiled in conspiracy theories because of it, but the very nature of this idea just seems a bit lazy. The United States already has technology for digital ballots that we’re still trying to figure out. One can only hope that in the near future, caucuses are removed and a traditional way of voting becomes standard amongst these states. Sometimes it’s okay to update the tech we have rather than create new bugs. Let’s patch an update to our physical processes and kick the caucus.