Microsoft app used to tally votes at Iowa caucus fails in some areas

www.usatoday.com

A graphic from a Microsoft video about its caucus vote counting app.(Photo: Microsoft)

As Republican and Democratic caucus voters used new Microsoft tallying apps during the Iowa caucuses, some took to Twitter to say the sites were crashing, while others complemented them on how swiftly they worked.

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Iowa caucuses: What's happening right now

Looks like Microsoft's caucus tallier crashed...https://t.co/D45W22T1VM#IowaCaucuspic.twitter.com/M9qM4U5Qc7

— Miranda Green (@Mirandacgreen)

And the Iowa GOP caucuses results site is down. Good job, @microsoft !#IowaCaucuspic.twitter.com/33PgBWONhl

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin)

Add “Iowa Caucus vote tracking” to Microsoft’s long list of unsuccessful promotional efforts…pic.twitter.com/RqZmx7Q11x

— Michael DeGusta (@degusta)

Microsoft Recount APP was not working properly at 1 location-Iowa Caucus Stream-A-Thon! Continued...https://t.co/0QQ92oFsUI via@YouTube

— CelesteHolmes (@Dallas4Bernie)

Some users noted  the system might simply be temporarily overwhelmed and suggested users wait a moment and then try again.

@michellemalkin@Microsoft Just try a few seconds later. The server is probably getting more requests than it can handle. Bashing is easy.

— Boris Pulatov (@BorisPulatov)

In an emailed statement, Microsoft said that the mobile apps for both parties worked without issue.

However national interest in the Iowa Caucuses overwhelmed the Democratic and Republican Party Iowa Caucus websites, which Microsoft was working to resolve, the company said.

Some online  charged that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had donated “millions” to the Clinton Foundation, making the company's creation of the apps suspect. However Microsoft created apps for both the Republican and Democratic parties, so others said that seemed unlikely.

Columnist Matt Drudge tweeted, “Watching the Iowa folks put their votes into Microsoft app is terrifying...”

Microsoft provided the free app in hopes of cutting down on errors and increasing speed in the reporting process, in response to issues at previous Iowa caucuses.

In a blog post in June, Microsoft's vice president for technology and civic engagement Dan'l Lewin, said the software company was "honored to support the 2016 Iowa caucus via a new, mobile-enabled, cloud-based platform that will facilitate accuracy and efficiency of the reporting process."

The secure system was meant to enable precincts "to report their results directly by party and will ensure that only authorized Iowans are reporting results. This announcement represents the first-of-its-kind major technology component to caucus reporting," he wrote.

Microsoft built apps for each political party in Iowa for all mobile and PC platforms, with the results to be securely stored and managed in Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform, he said.

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Hillary Clinton Has The Most Statistically Improbable Coin-Toss Luck Ever

www.theblaze.com

DES MOINES, Iowa — One of the most bizarre details to emerge from Monday’s Iowa caucuses was that in six Democratic counties, the ownership of six delegates was decided by a coin flip.

A single delegate remained unassigned at the end of caucusing in two precincts in Des Moines, one precinct in Ames, one in Newton, one in West Branch and one in Davenport, The Des Moines Register reported.

In all six instances, the coin toss was won by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

There may have been more coin tosses, but those are the ones we know about for now.

Now, get ready to do some math.

In a single coin toss, the probability of calling the toss correctly is 50 percent, or one in two. Heads or tails.

But the probably of winning every flip out of six flips is one in 64, or 1.56 percent.

The online study tool “Coin Toss Probability Calculator” has a really intense formula that explains why, but the bottom line is, the probabilities stack on each other.

You’re 50 percent likely to win one coin flip. But you’re only 25 percent likely to win two consecutive coin flips, because there are now twice as many possible outcomes. So bump that up to six coin flips, and your chances of winning them all are slim:

TutorVista.com

And the bottom line is, Clinton won the Iowa caucuses on a coin flip.

Here’s why: Each coin flip decided a delegate.

Clinton’s final delegate count was 699.57, according to the Iowa Democratic Party. Sanders’ was 695.49.

If Sanders had won half of the coin tosses and split the six delegates three and three with Clinton, he would have finished at 698.49 delegates to Clinton’s 696.57.

—

Follow the author of this story on Twitter and Facebook:Follow @LeighMunsil

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Sometimes, Iowa Democrats award caucus delegates with a coin flip

www.desmoinesregister.com

The caucus mathematics worksheet from the Ames 2-4 precinct in Story County came down to a coin toss. Hillary Clinton was awarded a contested delegate after a coin toss.(Photo: Special to the Regsiter)

In a handful of Democratic caucus precincts Monday, a delegate was awarded with a coin toss.

It happened in precinct 2-4 in Ames, where supporters of candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton disputed the results after 60 caucus participants apparently disappeared from the proceedings.

As a result of the coin toss, Clinton was awarded an additional delegate, meaning she took five of the precinct’s eight, while Sanders received three.

Here’s what happened, according to David Schweingruber, an associate professor of sociology at Iowa State University (and Sanders supporter) who participated in the caucus:

A total of 484 eligible caucus attendees were initially recorded at the site. But when each candidate’s preference group was counted, Clinton had 240 supporters, Sanders had 179 and Martin O’Malley had five (causing him to be declared non-viable).

Those figures add up to just 424 participants, leaving 60 apparently missing. When those numbers were plugged into the formula that determines delegate allocations, Clinton received four delegates and Sanders received three — leaving one delegate unassigned.

Unable to account for that numerical discrepancy and the orphan delegate it produced, the Sanders campaign challenged the results and precinct leaders called a Democratic Party hot line set up to advise on such situations.

Party officials recommended they settle the dispute with a coin toss.

A Clinton supporter correctly called “heads” on a quarter flipped in the air, and Clinton received a fifth delegate.

Similar situations were reported elsewhere, including at a precinct in Des Moines, at another precinct in Des Moines, in Newton, in West Branch  and in Davenport. In all five situations, Clinton won the toss.

Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/1SV0rc1

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