Rural Voters Can Swing the Iowa Caucuses. Meet Five of Them.

[elleng]

'Small-town Iowans have a huge role in picking the next president. Their deep commitment to the process paints a distinct portrait of democracy.'

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/us/elections/rural-iowa-election.html?

[JustAnotherGen]

1. I have an issue elleng

[div class="excerpt"]For the first time since the caucuses began in 1972, the parties are replacing their paper and landline vote reporting system with a digital one. Precincts will use a smartphone app developed by Microsoft to instantly tally and send in their results.

The parties are hoping to avoid what happened in the 2012 Republican caucuses: The final, verified tally naming Mr. Santorum the winner was not released until more than two weeks after caucus night, when Mr. Romney was said to have won.

Charlie Szold, the communications director for the Republican Party of Iowa, said that with a new, streamlined process this year, the verified tally would be available in 48 hours.

While the app is fairly simple, it has created some anxiety in the most rural parts of the state, where not everyone owns or has experience using a smartphone and Wi-Fi and cellphone service are harder to come by.

They aren't the only ones with anxiety.

[elleng]

2. I was concerned too, Gen, when I first heard about this,

even without knowing these specifics, but pretty clear to me: MANY (like ME) haven't used a smartphone. I DO have my own Wi-Fi hot spot, tho.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. I'm the biz at a HQ level

Something is going to go wrong.

The people who have the least faith - we all work at the big five.