I noticed a minor flaw in the coin-flipping code of SubCalc today. In the process of cleaning this up I created a page that explains coin flips in SubCalc. What we do is actually more akin to drawing straws than flipping a coin, but since coins have traditionally been used for this sort of things in caucuses and conventions around Minnesota, that’s the terminology you will find in SubCalc. The update with the minor bug fix (v.1.0.1 of SubCalc) will go to the App Store today, we hope it gets published quickly, though most users won’t even notice there is anything wrong with v.1.0 anyway.

Apple took only three days to review the app Alex and I submitted on 1/25. Today SubCalc became a free app on the App Store.

SubCalc is an app to help convenors of precinct caucuses and conventions in Minnesota. The Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) party uses a wonderful, but bit arcane, “walking subcaucus” process that is simple enough to do, but rather difficult to tabulate.

This app calculates the number of delegates each subcaucus gets when you enter the total number of delegates your precinct or convention is allowed and how many people are in each subcaucus. The rules it follows appeared on page 4 of the DFL 2010-2011 Official Call, including the proper treatment of remainders. It makes the math involved in a walking subcaucus disappear.

The app could be used to facilitate a “walking subcaucus” or “proportional representation” system for any group.

If you don’t have an iPhone, try the “web app” version of this subcaucus calculator for at http://www.sd64dfl.org/sub/. But if you do have an iPhone or iPod Touch (or iPad!) please give SubCalc a spin!