DNC will recommend scrapping Nevada, Iowa virtual caucus plans

The Democratic National Committee will recommend scrapping state plans to offer virtual, telephone-based caucuses in 2020 because of security concerns, sources told The Associated Press.

The final choice whether to allow virtual caucuses in Iowa and Nevada is up to the party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee. But opposition from DNC’s executive and staff leadership makes it unlikely the committee would keep the virtual caucuses, leaving two key early-voting states and the national party a short time to fashion an alternative before the February caucuses.

The state parties planned to allow some voters to cast caucus votes over the telephone in February 2020 instead of showing up at traditional caucus meetings.

Iowa and Nevada created the virtual option to meet a DNC mandate that states open caucuses to more people, but two sources with knowledge of party leaders’ deliberations say there are concerns that the technology used for virtual caucuses could be subject to hacking.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose internal party discussions.

National party leaders, including Chairman Tom Perez, have praised state parties for their efforts to work to expand participation. But rolling out a new voting system ran the risk of potential confusion and technical troubles. The state parties said they planned to work with DNC security experts to develop and test their tele-caucus systems this fall.

Jim Roosevelt, the Rules and Bylaws Committee chairman, confirmed that there are security concerns about the virtual caucus proposals. But he stopped short of saying that there is no way Nevada or Iowa will be able to allow some kind of remote participation, even if it’s not what the states have submitted at this point.

The question, though, is whether the states could overhaul their proposals and have the DNC approve them in any kind of a reasonable time frame to explain the process to voters and allow the campaigns to prepare their turnout strategies.

Roosevelt said he expects “in the next 24 to 48 hours” to schedule a telephone meeting of his committee to take the next official steps, and the meeting could take place a week later under party rules.