The system had major technical problems during Election Day that
prevented many volunteers from using it. It crashed periodically and
at one point was intentionally taken down when a surge of traffic from
campaign volunteers was misinterpreted as a denial of service attack.
Frustrated volunteers reported being unable to access ORCA and
criticised a lack of prior briefing, misleading instructions and
patchy on-the-day support. A Romney aide commented that “Orca is lying
on the beach with a harpoon in it.” The system’s failings have been
attributed by technology writers to a combination of factors including
not doing prior quality assurance or beta testing, inadequate
documentation and poor design.
