Opinion | Confusion and disappointment in 2020’s first election

For campaign junkies and political newcomers alike, Monday night’s Iowa caucus felt like something out of a “Black Mirror” episode. Until late afternoon Feb. 4, journalists were left with little substantive material to report. Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders earned 26.2 percent and 26.3 percent of the vote respectively, and although Mayor Pete claimed victory with one extra delegate, Bernie Sanders announced himself the winner of the popular vote.

In short, the caucus wasn’t a strong start to the 2020 election season.

To have a chance of winning the party’s nomination, candidates typically need to place in the top three spots in Iowa. After Buttigieg and Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren snagged the third place title. Fourth place went to former Vice President Joe Biden, somewhat upending the assumption he’s a shoo-in for the nomination.

But figuring out the results was dramatic. After making some minor rule changes to the vote counting process, the Iowa Democratic Party decided to add another new element into this year’s caucus: a vote counting app. It’s unclear which of these additions ultimately caused the evening’s chaos, but the combination increased confusion.

The app was made by a company called Shadow. It was meant to help precinct leaders with the complex math that goes into caucusing and then report those calculations to the party. It’s important to note that Iowans were not actually voting with this app. It was introduced as a tool to speed up the vote counting process. That didn’t go as planned.

If you’re now wondering why Iowa gets so much attention, again, you’re not alone. The state has been first in the electoral calendar for decades because of its historic value and longstanding tradition. Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama were both underdogs before winning their Iowa caucuses, so legend has it that whoever wins Iowa wins the nomination. Iowans take this job very seriously, but critics of the process point out that while roughly 88.7 percent of Iowans are white, only 63.7 percent of all Americans are white. Iowa’s immigrant population also doesn’t reflect the country’s; 4.7 percent of Iowans are from a different country, yet 13.1 percent of all Americans are foreign-born. While tradition has its value, the emphasis placed on this state may be on its last legs.

Candidates spend a lot of time, money and energy winning over the hearts of Iowans. In turn, Iowans work tirelessly to uphold the value of their caucus. With so much attention paid to this one state election, it’s hard to believe it ended this way. From the app to rule changes to wasted time to foggy results, engaged Americans have been left disheartened and confused.