Clayton County Register

Patrick William McTaggart, 70, of Elkader, died Sunday, January 19, 2020, at his home. He was born in Mason City on June 6, 1949, to William Neal and Mary Virginia (Looney) McTaggart. As a young man, he worked for his dad, Bill, and his uncle, Don, who were co-owners of McTaggart’s Furniture in Elkader. He graduated from Central Community High School and attended Upper Iowa University in Fayette where he earned a degree in history. He proudly served in the United States Army and was honorably discharged on September 26, 1977.

By Pam Reinig
Register Editor

Ten minutes into the February 3 caucus, Brian Bruening got the first inkling that he was in for a long night. Bruening, who is a precinct chair and also chair of the Clayton County Democrats, opened a newly created election app on his smartphone to enter the number of participants who turned out at his precinct.

He was kicked out of the app seconds after logging in.

“I got a ‘restart app’ message but when I tried to do that, nothing happened,” Bruening said.

Bruening’s experience played out across most of Iowa’s 1,700 precincts. It seems nobody was able to get the app to work. In the days leading up to the caucus, instantaneous results were promised but in the end, results trickled in. Nearly four days would pass before an official tally was announced.

Dawn D. Fox, 71, of St. Olaf, died Saturday, February 1, 2020. She was born on January 9, 1949, in Volga, Iowa, to Homer and Dorothy (Langford) Walter. She graduated from Elkader High School.

By Pam Reinig

The Iowa Democratic Party late Monday night cited “quality checks” and new reporting rules for a significant delay in results from the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus. That may be only part of the story, however.

According to Clayton County Democratic Chair Brian Bruening, the program or “app” used to report numbers from each precinct statewide presented some challenges. In fact, during his opening comments at Keystone AEA in Elkader where his own precinct met, Bruening encountered issues with the app the first time he tried to use it.

“I’m not sure what happened but I do know that we were still receiving updates to the app yesterday afternoon,” he said in a call to the Register just before midnight Monday.

Results were expected by late Monday evening. The official count was pushed to Tuesday after the Register deadline. Whatever the real issue, party officials are insistent that the delay was not the result of “a hack or intrusion.”