Feb 6, 2020 - Technology

Report: Pro-Trumpers tried to jam Iowa results line

Scott Rosenberg

Photo of caucus participants looking glum sitting on bleachers next to a Biden sign — Biden supporters caucus in a Des Moines, Iowa, gym. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Posters on 4chan, the anonymous message board famous as a gathering spot for trolls, shared the phone number of Iowa's Democratic caucus results line Monday evening and encouraged readers to "clog the lines," NBC News reports.

Why it matters: Technical problems with a results-tallying app led many Iowa precincts to try to report numbers by phone. The lines were already overloaded, but it now appears that malicious mischief might also have played a role.

One Democratic party official who helped man the phone line told colleagues he had received multiple calls to the line from Trump supporters who expressed "displeasure," Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

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Report: Pro-Trumpers tried to jam Iowa results line

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