The Iowa caucus is here, complete with smartphone apps and paper ballots

It will also be our first look at how states are upping their presidential election cybersecurity game since 2016, when Russia attempted to hack US voting machines — and which it is likely to attempt again this election cycle, and with four more years of experience.But don’t worry, Iowa’s Democratic Party is instituting a revolutionary new tool that no computer hacker can possibly defeat: a 2,200-year-old technology called “paper.”In the wake of the problematic punch-card ballots that might have decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, electronic voting machines were seen as a way to improve accuracy and make elections more accessible. Volunteers who do not wish to use the app or don’t have a smartphone can always call the results in through a hotline.And, as an added measure of security and for the first time in caucus history, the Iowa Democratic Party is instituting a “paper trail,” giving caucusgoers a card on which they must write their preferred candidate’s name and their signature, to be collected by the caucus precinct.