The DNC was reportedly 'intimately involved' with the creation of the infamous app that botched the Iowa caucuses
- Officials from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had access to and were involved with the creation of the app that botched the Iowa caucuses, according to a report from Yahoo News.
- National party officials pushed for "continual access" to the app in its initial contract, the report said.
- The app, developed by Shadow Inc., led to delays and inconsistencies in reporting of caucus data from the closely-watched caucuses.
- The contract said that Shadow would provide monthly updates about the app's development to the DNC, according to the report.
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Democratic National Committee officials were "intimately involved" with the development of the app that led to massive delays in results from the Iowa caucuses, according to a report from Yahoo News' Hunter Walker.
DNC officials had access to the app ahead of the Iowa caucuses, and received "monthly written updates" about the development of the app, Walker reported, citing a contract for the app's development.
An unnamed source involved with the caucuses told Yahoo News that national party officials "were intimately involved in this process."
While the DNC has attempted to distance itself from the app, it had "continual access" to the app before its launch, according to a contract cited in the report.
DNC CEO Seema Nanda and Kat Atwater, the DNC's deputy chief technology officer, were involved in drafting the contract and pushed for access to the app, according to the report.
DNC spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa told Business Insider that the DNC was not involved in developing the app and that it "drafted broad language" to ensure that the app would be accessible to the DNC's security consultant.
"We did not build the application, nor did we provide 'oversight' of its development - that's the vendor's responsibility. We only provided security assistance," Hinojosa said.
The app was developed by Shadow Inc., a tech company that aims to "build political power for the progressive movement," according to its website. After the app caused massive delays, leading to confusion and frustration over the lack of results from the closely-watched Iowa caucuses, Shadow said that the issues were caused by coding errors that impacted the reporting of data and did not corrupt the actual results from caucuses around the state.
Still, the Associated Press said it would not call a winner in the caucuses. DNC Chairman Tom Perez also called for a recanvass in Iowa, and both Sanders and Buttigieg have submitted official requests for a partial recanvass.
The chaos ultimately led to the resignation of state party chairman, Troy Price. Perez told The New York Times that Price "was doing his best, but it wasn't enough."