Image: Microsoft
All eyes tonight will be on Iowa in what's expected to be thrillingly close Democratic and Republican caucuses. On one side there's Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and on the other there's Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Technically there are other candidates, yes, but polls primarily suggest a race between these four candidatesAnd then there's Microsoft.Microsoft has developed two mobile apps, one for each party (owing to the differences in how the parties assign delegates), that will be used in the nearly 1,700 precincts across the state to help report votes to the parties' headquarters in Des Moines. The apps, which are being given to both parties for free, replace a touch tone keypad-based system that was used in 2008 and 2012, and are intended to help improve the overall accuracy of the reporting process. Among other features, Microsoft's system is designed to detect potential anomalies in the reporting process, such as a significantly larger number of people in a given precinct than were present last time around.The parties are looking to avoid a repeat of 2012 in which Mitt Romney was erroneously declared the winner of the Republican caucuses (Rick Santorum actually won the night).
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A Microsoft video explaining what its apps will do.While Microsoft is all too happy to introduce a bit of technology into the political process—in the most recent data available, state and local governments were forecast by technology research firm IDC to spend about $6.4 billion on so-called "civic tech" through the end of 2015—some candidates are uneasy with the company's presence.Pete D'Alessandro, who runs the Iowa campaign for Bernie Sanders, questioned Microsoft's motives in an interview with MSNBC last week, saying, "You'd have to ask yourself why they'd want to give something like that away for free." While both parties have endorsed the use of Microsoft's apps, Sanders and Clinton will employ their own backup reporting system as well.Homepage image: Greg Skidmore/Flickr