The idea of security through obscurity is almost always a mistake. Drawing the blinds on the process leaves us, in the public, in a position where we can’t even assess the competence of the people doing something on our behalf.

Doug Jones, a computer science professor at the University of Iowa and a former caucus precinct leader, said regarding the Iowa Democratic Party’s (IDP) decision to use an Internet-based smartphone app to tabulate and transfer voting results during the state’s February caucus. The IDP hopes that “the new app lets the party get results out to the public quicker,” but the decision seems unusual as 2020 election conversations are inundated with cybersecurity concerns. (NPR — January 14, 2020)