Nevada GOP to report presidential caucus results via Twitter

By Anjeanette Damon (contact)

Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 | 12:25 p.m.

How do you increase your number of Twitter followers exponentially in a matter of a few days? Use your account to report the official results of a major presidential primary contest.

The Nevada Republican Party announced today it will release its official caucus results live on Twitter and will also use Google maps to display the live results visually on its website.

While it’s the second time election results were reported via Google maps—Iowa did it in January—it’s the first time a live Twitter stream has been dedicated to reporting official results.

“The Nevada Republican Party wanted to be very innovative, very cutting edge, and utilize these platforms as a way to get these results out in the fastest most effective way we think that has been done to date,” said Jim Anderson of Cap Public Affairs, the consulting firm hired by the party to help conduct the caucuses. “We think we’ve got a tool for this caucus that could be a model tool moving forward for primaries and caucus for states all around the country.”

Before the results are released, Twitter will authenticate the party’s handle — @nvgop — to ensure the information is secure and accurate. That handle, which had only 609 followers as of noon Friday, will be used to report aggregate results.

A second Twitter handle will be established to report precinct-by-precinct results as they roll in. The name of that handle hasn’t yet been released.

While the results will be delivered by cutting-edge technology, that doesn't mean they'll be delivered at a convenient hour. Plan on staying up late for final numbers.

The state party will begin reporting results from around the state at 5 p.m.

Initial results from Nevada’s largest county won’t be released until 7 p.m., the start time for Clark County’s evening caucus.

Party officials did not estimate when the final results from the evening caucus will be available.

“The goal will be to get the results out as soon as we can and as soon as they are certified,” said the party’s executive director David Gallagher.