Election administrators in New Hampshire say they’re confident that the state’s Democratic primary will not be a repeat of this week’s Iowa caucus, which has actually been beset by tech problems and reporting hold-ups. As of Thursday early morning, the outcomes still weren’t completely reported, and the race was too close to state a winner. “We totally expect that the outcomes reported at the end of the night will be accurate, and the candidates will understand who won the primary on time,” said New Hampshire deputy secretary of state David Scanlan.
Of course, there are essential differences between the two states. Where Iowa does a caucus– indicating people hang out personally in school health clubs and VFW halls for hours, declaring their allegiances and submitting complex forms recording 3 rounds of vote tallies– the New Hampshire main is far more like an uncomplicated election, run not by the parties however by the state federal government. More to the point, New Hampshire isn’t presenting an untried mobile app to the process, as the Iowa Democrats did this year to report the results. New Hampshire’s election administrators are proudly old school, continuing to use old-fashioned paper tallies and decades-old optical scanners that, Scanlan said, have had their modems and external ports handicapped. As Secretary of State Costs Gardner– a Republican who, incredibly, has actually remained in his position given that 1976– likes to boast, “You can’t hack a pencil.”
But you do not require a hack to sow mayhem. The Iowa story wasn’t practically unsuccessful technology. It had to do with online disinformation and the method it eats abnormalities both real and pictured. Incorrect claims about Iowa citizens were going viral on social networks even prior to the app havoc, and the reporting snafus motivated tweets from the left and the ideal about the vote being “rigged.”
The New Hampshire Democrats are on the alert, according to spokesperson Holly Shulman. The state celebration has taken numerous actions to get in front of disinformation, including just recently publishing a document entitled “How to Find Disinformation Online– and What to Do About It.” That guide, aimed mostly at the more than a thousand regional party delegates around the state, plus elected authorities and activists, gives readers instructions for what to do if they come across phony accounts– flag it to the relevant platform and email the state party digital director– and guidance for how to identify false memes and bot activity.
Plus, Shulman informed me, lots of local Democratic Celebration chapters have “a designated individual who’s keeping track of local politics online, including trying to find disinformation and misinformation.” She mentioned that New Hampshire is a little state with an unusually high number
