Democrats in
Nevada have once again changed plans for how votes will be tracked in the caucuses, the day before voters cast their ballots.
After announcing results would be relayed online via Google form last week, Democrats have seemingly reversed course and decided instead to instruct precinct leaders to call and text votes in to a dedicated hotline,
the New York Times reported on Friday.
The change was announced through a memo sent by Alana Mounce, the state party’s executive director, to the presidential campaigns.
“The hotline report will be the primary source of the precinct caucus results reported on Caucus Day,” Ms. Mounce wrote. The email made no mention of the Google document forms initially slated to be used for the caucuses.
Nevada Democrats initially planned to use the app used in the Iowa caucuses but abandoned those plans after the first state’s caucus went terribly wrong due to technological issues.
Nevada, like Iowa, adopted new rules from the Democratic National Committee this year requiring states to report three sets of numbers from the caucuses: the initial vote number, the number of votes a candidate receives after “realignment” – when voters choose new candidates if their top choice fails to receive enough support – and the number of state delegates ultimately awarded to candidates.
In order to report these numbers, volunteers are expected to use a caucus “tool” on iPads distributed by the Democratic party to precinct chairs. This is meant to help avoid some of the technical difficulties experienced in Iowa by chairs unable to download the app.
Nevada Democrats were reportedly consulting with Google on best practices for using the document forms, but Google did not confirm. Nevada Democrats did not respond to request for comment regarding the change.