Nevada Democrats intensify last-minute training to avoid Iowa-like issues on Caucus Day

RENO – Nevada officials are making one final push to avert a repeat of Iowa’s calamitous Caucus Day.

The Nevada State Democratic Party on Wednesday announced a two-day training blitz meant to ensure that its precinct volunteers know how to use a new “caucus calculator” set to debut during the Silver State’s pivotal, third-in-the-nation nominating contest.

The calculator, first unveiled by Nevada Democrats last week, will be downloaded to party-purchased iPads and only available for use by precinct chairs charged with completing sometimes complicated caucus math. It will also help organizers incorporate early vote totals into final caucus results.

In a statement released Wednesday, party officials said they had updated online training materials and planned to host 55 in-person and online practice sessions ahead of Saturday’s closely watched caucus.

They said those meetings will provide “hands-on guidance” about the Google Forms-based calculator technology adopted to replace faulty app software widely blamed for vote-reporting delays in Iowa.

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Related: Nevada Democrats turn to Scantron-style paper ballots after Caucus Day chaos in Iowa

“We understand just how important it is that we get this right and protect the integrity of Nevadans’ votes,” said Shelby Wiltz, the state party’s caucus director. “We are proud that we have a robust training program that started over the summer, and that is continuing up until Caucus Day. We will continue to train our volunteers to make sure we have a successful caucus.”

Officials on Tuesday also held a mock caucus for Southern Nevada reporters, where they reportedly offered a smooth demonstration of how the iPad-based Google Forms technology would mimic the paper caucus reporting sheets and posters used in past caucuses.

Training materials posted to the party’s website show precinct captains will first fill out those sheets by hand, then on the calculator, before announcing vote totals to caucusgoers.

From there, volunteers will use the calculator to view the number of early ballots cast in their precinct and add that total to the number of in-person participants on Caucus Day.

This is how volunteers will determine which candidates have amassed a “viable” number of backers at the polling place, moving the process to a second phase when supporters of less-popular candidates are encouraged to join up with groups who backed a contender with more support.

The training materials go on to instruct volunteers to use their phones to take a photo of caucusing results and text it to party officials.

It wasn’t immediately clear how or whether the caucus calculator would aid in that process.

A spokeswoman said the state party has recruited additional tech volunteers to help facilitate and troubleshoot problems if the iPads fail on Caucus Day.

The party on Wednesday also confirmed some 70,000 Nevadans turned out during a newly expanded four-day early caucusing period, putting the state on pace to easily meet or exceed voter participation in recent presidential caucuses.

Officials used Scantron-style paper ballots to record those early results, which were then sent to party-run “processing hubs” for scanning and storage. Unique voter PIN numbers attached to the ballots were intended to help officials route early results to the correct precinct for tallying on Caucus Day. The party has not offered further details on the transfer of that early voting data.

James DeHaven is the politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal. He covers campaigns, the Nevada Legislature and everything in between.

This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette-Journal: Nevada caucus: Democrats intensify pre-caucus training for volunteers