DNC Chair Tom Perez and the Co-Chairs of the Rules and Bylaws Committee on Caucus Security
Today, the DNC technology and security teams, after completing a review process and in consultation with independent experts, provided their recommendation to DNC Chair Tom Perez and the DNC’s Rules and By-laws Committee regarding the proposed delegate selection plans from the Iowa and Nevada Democratic Parties. A memo outlining the recommendation is available here.
In response, DNC Chair Tom Perez and Rules and By-Laws Committee Co-Chairs Lorraine Miller and Jim Roosevelt issued the following statement detailing their recommendation to the Rules and By-Laws Committee:
“The Iowa and Nevada state parties have worked diligently in their efforts to expand access to their caucuses and meet the Rules and Bylaws Committee’s new requirements. We applaud their innovative work and are grateful for their ongoing, patient cooperation with the committee. We take seriously our responsibility to carefully examine every proposed delegate selection plan with the utmost scrutiny before moving it into full compliance, especially as it relates to ensuring the security of our voting systems and the voting public. We concur with the advice of the DNC’s security experts that there is no tele-caucus system available that meets our standard of security and reliability given the scale needed for the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the current cyber-security climate. For these reasons, we are recommending to the committee that virtual caucus systems not be used in the Iowa and Nevada 2020 caucus processes, and unless compliance can be met through other means, that the committee consider a waiver. We continue to have unwavering confidence in the Iowa and Nevada state parties, and we know that the Iowa Caucuses on February 3rd and Nevada Caucuses on February 22nd will be their most successful yet.”
Background:
In December of 2017, the Unity Reform Commission established by the DNC released a list of requirements for caucus states' delegate selection plans, including absentee voting, recount provisions and other mechanisms to make the process more open and transparent. The Rules and By-Laws committee adopted this requirement, the DNC’s governing body voted to approve it in August of 2018 and state parties received this delegate selection plan guidance in December of 2018. State parties worked in 2019 to craft their state-specific plans. Per the rules, plans were due to the DNC by May 1st, at which point analysis of the plans began. The RBC requested assistance from the DNC’s technical experts following their meeting in June of 2019.
