The company behind the app that derailed the Iowa caucus has finally spoken.Shadow Inc. CEO Gerard Niemira broke his silence in an interview with Bloomberg News on Tuesday night, as vote totals were still being released from Monday nightâs fiasco in Iowa.âIâm really disappointed that some of our technology created an issue that made the caucus difficult,â Niemira, a veteran of Hillary Clintonâs presidential run, told Bloomberg. âWe feel really terrible about that.âThe Iowa Democratic Party paid Shadow over $63,000 in November and December 2019, according to campaign finance reports. The purpose of Shadowâs IowaReporterApp was to help âensure accuracy in a complex reporting process,â according to a statement on Shadowâs website. But a multitude of problemsâfrom poor reception to installation errorsâforced many precinct chairs to attempt to report their results via phone, which caused long delays.The company had been contracted by the Nevada Democratic Party to develop technology for their caucus on February 22, but on Tuesday, the NDP said it âwill not be employing the same app or vendor used in the Iowa caucus.âNiemira said that out of all of the precincts that had access to the app, just a quarter successfully reported their numbers. Despite that, Niemira still maintained that his app was basically fine.âThe app was sound and good,â Niemira told Bloomberg. âAll the data that was produced by calculations performed by the app was correct. It did the job it was supposed to do, which is help precinct chairs in the field do the math correctly. The problem was caused by a bug in the code that transmits results data into the state partyâs data warehouse.âLittle is known about the company except that it was created after the much-hyped progressive nonprofit ACRONYM purchased Groundbase, according to a tweet from ACRONYM founder Tara McGowan in January 2019. But since the Iowa debacle, ACRONYM appears to have decided that it doesnât have much to do with Shadowâs day to day operations.In a February 4 tweet, McGowan, who is married to a strategist for the campaign of former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, described Shadow as an âindependent company ACRONYM is invested in.â
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While Niemira confirmed ACRONYMâs role as an investor, he refused to name other investors or say who sits on the companyâs board, according to Bloomberg. We do know at least one member, however: Niemiraâs LinkedIn page lists him as the companyâs chairman.Cover: Precinct captain Carl Voss of Des Moines displays the Iowa Democratic Party caucus reporting app on his phone outside of the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)