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The mobile app that was used to collect and report caucus results in Iowa last night was built by Shadow Inc. that launched last year, a person familiar with the app told CNN.
The same app is due to be used in Nevada, the person said. CNN has reached out to the Nevada Democratic Party for comment.
The software issues were the start of a cascading series of problem — including difficult getting through on the phone to report results — that led the Democratic party to hold off on releasing results on Monday night.
Officials from multiple precincts described to CNN having problems with the app and the reporting process, though some others did say the software performed as needed.
Polk County Democratic Chairman Sean Bagniewski told CNN early Tuesday morning that tests of the app last week did not go entirely smoothly. Last Thursday, Bagniewski advised precinct chairs who couldn’t get the app to work to call in their results to the Iowa Democratic Party.
In a statement Monday night, Iowa’s Democratic Party said “this is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or intrusion.”
CNN review of IDP’s expenditures showed that it had made payments to Shadow in 2019, totaling more than $60,000.
Shadow is connected to another group, ACRONYM. Early Tuesday morning, ACRONYM spokesperson Kyle Tharp tweeted a statement distancing the group from Shadow.
“ACRONYM is a nonprofit and not a technology company,” said Tharp. “As such, we have not provided any technology to the Iowa Democratic Party, Presidential campaigns, or the Democratic National Committee.”
Tharp acknowledged ACRONYM’s role as one of a number of investors in Shadow. But he added that “we, like everyone else, are eagerly awaiting more information from the Iowa Democratic Party with respect to what happened.”
Last January, however, ACRONYM founder Tara McGowan tweeted proudly that ACRONYM was “launching” Shadow.
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