Democratic National Committee officials said Friday they will recommend scrapping Iowa’s plan to hold virtual caucuses in 2020, citing substantial security threats.
“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,” DNC Chair Tom Perez and Rules and By-Laws Committee Co-Chairs Lorraine Miller and Jim Roosevelt said in a joint statement. “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.”
In a news release, the DNC cited a July report of the Senate Intelligence Committee which outlined Russian interference in U.S. elections.Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price told reporters that while he didn’t know the path forward he was confident Iowa’s first-in-the-nation place will not be shaken.
“Iowa will be a caucus. And Iowa will be first,” Price said multiple times when he met with the media Friday afternoon.
But Price gave no timeline for how the party will proceed with allowing people who cannot attend in-person caucus locations to cast their preferences next year or a timeline on a solution.