Google for President
It could be that every election year we question the election process.
But after two questionable victories by George W. Bush, I think that today we wonder even more if the election process could be improved.
I’m not only referring to redesigning ballots or eliminating hanging chads, but rethinking why we have the electoral college system rather than a more direct, popular vote.
I hear many young voters in NY right now talking about how they may or may not vote, but feel that it is alright since this is a blue state, and there is nothing much at stake. Voting power is only truly felt in swing states, where every vote seems significant in the decision. If you don’t live in a swing state, then your vote does not matter. These aren’t my views but attitudes I have heard. I don’t agree with them but see the reasoning behind it. This attitude, combined with the fact that a president can win the popular vote, but still not be elected, feels anti-democratic in a way.
I can see two reasons why the US system is at is is. One is that there were technological limitations. Back in the day, there was no efficient way to count each person’s vote. Imagine counting votes by candle light and sending messengers on horse to tally the results. The electoral college helped break the process into more manageable pieces.
Also, a main motivation for an electoral college was probably rooted in the unwillingness to completely give in to the will of the masses. The electoral college was a way rich white men could still exercise some control over the general population. I think the smarter decisions have been sacrificed in the last two elections, both due to “technicalities”. Al Gore, however, did win the popular vote. Another mistake could also be made in this election, because Obama doesn’t win all of the right states, despite the fact that so many people, a popular majority, want him to be president.
Fast-forward to the 21st century. We have computers now, the ultimate number crunchers, that could tally votes with lightning speed. If the issue is that the popular vote is still somehow flawed and not the best representation of our will, then maybe the voting districts need to be rethought, so the electoral votes aren’t at the state level, but per-district. I am sure Google could rethink a more fair algorithm based on current populations so that every voter would feel empowered again.
Of course, the idea of completely computerized voting conjures up the thought of political hackers rigging elections by flipping bits of individual votes, or hard disks getting erased. Not to say that the system of physical ballots has proved itself to be more tamper or error resistant. But I am sure we could come up with a pretty fool proof system that wouldn’t allow another decision like 2000.
We also need the Google government website Obama keeps talking about, complete with visualizations of lobbying patterns. While we are at it, I think we need to develop better visualization tools to help see the economic problems more clearly. Sergei Brin better be a cabinet member in the next administration.