Officials blame app for delayed results

Shadow, the little-known company behind the app used to tabulate the results of the Iowa presidential caucus, expressed “regret” on Tuesday over the delayed results from the Democratic nominating contest.

“We sincerely regret the delay in the reporting of the results of last night’s Iowa caucuses and the uncertainty it has caused to the candidates, their campaigns, and Democratic caucus-goers,” the company tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.

The company, which is affiliated with the Democratic nonprofit group Acronym, wrote in a series of follow-up tweets that the results of the election were in no way affected or manipulated, citing the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP).

Acronym spokesperson Kyle Tharp put out a statement on Tuesday distancing the group from Shadow, saying that Acronym is one of multiple investors in the company. Reports have pointed out that Acronym’s site previously said it “launched Shadow.”

State party officials are set to release at least some results of the caucus at 5 p.m. ET, though it’s unclear exactly how much. The chairman of the IDP told campaigns to expect a “majority” of the caucus results to be released at that time.

IDP chair Tom Price stressed in a statement Tuesday that “there was not a cyber security intrusion” into the caucus.

“As part of our investigation, we determined with certainty that the underlying data collected via the app was sound,” he continued. “While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data. We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system.”

Shadow has been paid by multiple presidential campaigns and state Democratic parties in the last year, including the the Nevada Democratic Party, which had been planning to use the same app during its upcoming caucuses.