This is the Mother Jones Podcast. I'm Jamila King in New York.

On this week's early edition of the show,

on this week's early edition of the show, Iowa Meltdown, how digital chaos

overshadowed the first votes in the 2020 election season and what it means for

the candidates and most importantly you the

voter. So even before we got to the massive system failures there are a lot of

really undemocratic aspects. We are there with you.

You know, it's like the entire country was just kind of on hold with Iowa last night.

As of this recording, we don't know the winner yet,

but we're dusting off the crystal ball with a data

journalist who digs into the numbers and can tell you what they actually mean.

You're going to want to stick around for this first election show of the 2020

season.

Iowa, why does it go first? And this whole cockacine thing looks really cool to watch, but is it actually a good system?

In a moment, you'll hear from our Voting Rights reporter, an Iowa native, Ari Berman, for his immediate reactions and what it says about

voting in America in 2020. But on top of all those issues, the caucuses on

Monday were a debacle.

Results were unknown into Tuesday,

with party officials blaming inconsistencies in reporting.

But precinct-based volunteers running the contest slammed the parties reporting at and

said even calling in on the phone was causing problems. The result in Iowa

usually give candidates who do well some momentum and causes some candidates to drop out.

...