Election '08: A Transparent Disaster?

One of the driving concepts behind the social web is transparency: Instantly networked communications allow virtually anybody see whatever they want.

This has not escaped the attention of the two Presidential campaigns. And tomorrow's public exercise in democracy will become the first example of a massively transparent election.

Voter fraud, voter intimidation, poll conditions, wait times, machine failures, on-the-spot partisan interventions, even get-out-the-vote actions will all be recorded and available for all to see.

I predict a paralyzing info hell as a rickety, distributed, incoherent, often incompetent, long-invisible voting system is exposed to the harsh light of Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, FaceBook, iReports, youReports, themReports, cell photos, almost-real-time blog postings and whatever self-interested data-motes are broadcast by, um, legit journalists on the national networks on TV and online.

I predict legal intervention, litigation and a long postponement of official results.

Let me say I believe a transparent democratic process is the only kind worth having. Now that we have [primitive] tools to see behind the curtain [well, not behind that curtain] we must use them. And celebrate the moment they represent.

But the infrastructure to manage and adjudicate all this input does not exist. We are in for an unprecedented act of citizen journalism in ten thousand "newsrooms" with no editors. This will result in massive incidents of unintended consequences. They will make hanging chads look like sweet, slightly comic anachronisms.

* How could any self-respecting partisan not collect and broadcast whatever scraps of data that might help his or her cause?
* How can election officials possibly figure out which information represents a legit matter of concern and which is meaningless? How can they detect citizen reporting fraud?
* How on earth can they figure out what to do with it all?
* How can they do it in a timely fashion?
* How can the media responsibly resist broadcasting the most egregious examples of whatever plebiscite sins they gather?
* How can election officials safely ignore it all in the name of expediency and subject themselves to charges that they are not upholding the integrity of a process they are sworn to defend?
* And how [therefore] can we avoid a real-time, life-or-death extended battle waged by the "losing" parties -- not just for the Presidency, but for the Senate, the House, Governors and thousands of local elections across the country?

I'll be watching results on election night -- not just on John King's Magic Map but across the social web. I won't be able to keep up and I won't have a clue how to feel about it other than baffled.

This will be an extraordinary moment in the history of democracy.

And it will be a freaking mess.

Follow Craig Stoltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/craigstoltz

Comments

[loveHP]

I imagine one of the biggest voter suppression effects will be long lines remaining when the polls are supposed to close in many precincts. I'm wondering how that will be dealt with in all the battleground states.

[NationalTreasure]

time to call in th einternational election monitors?

[cambridgedude]

I heard Zimbabwe had offered to send monitore ;)

[TonyOnly]

I'm sorry to say this, folks, but I predict the polls are close enough for McCain to be able to steal this one, just like Bush did in 2000. North America has become a bastion of white, upper middle class, baby boomer neoconservatism, and in the privacy of the voter's booth that's very likely what they'll choose. Also, too many young'uns may not bother to vote, just like the New Hampshire primary. And the hockey moms don't seem to care that they're trading in their sons hockey sticks for rifles. They just want a hockey mom at the White House. I hope I'm wrong, but I believe all these factors will be in play on Tuesday and I won't be surprised if the republican pillaging of the U.S. Treasury continues.

[zitlight73]

I'm afraid your too right. After stealing 2000 and 2004 elections I don't see any reason why they'd stop now. Why hand over power to somebody who might use it to put you in prison? If civil unrest breaks out so much the better; just declare martial law and suspend what's left of the constitution. And if the Democrats are allowed to win then they're probably in on it.

[Craig Stoltz - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for the catch, Antlers. I eliminated the word "data." --Craig

[forest dweller]

great article!

Sums up some of my thoughts yet is optimistic (since the peasants finally have some technology to record all this blashemy!)

i think there is a big change coming, and it is a result of the two universal forces of the universe swirling always trying to maintain a sense of equllibrium. Our planet is not exempt from these forces nor are our 'dramas'. Prepare yourself psychologically for what might perphaps be the most 'awesome, powerful, chaotic' event in human history !

dance, sing, chant, and surround yourself with nature if you feel you are losing your mind.!
pray!
Breathe deeply!

turn off your wireless router!
turn off your cell phone!

[pshelleyg]

I hope after all of these problems are spotlighted, that nobody forgets that it happened after Obama wins.
(If McCain appears to have won, then we at least know that Obama is one democrat that doesn't appear to be willing to let the election slip away because of irregularities. He'll fight for this one.) The point is, even if a tide of voters that transcend all of the irregularities, fraud, and lines manage to put Obama in office, these irregularities need to be addressed, even if after winning Democrats are accused of being "cry babies" for exposing such scandalous conditions.

[LoRiseAntlers]

"How can they detect data citizen reporting fraud."

Huh!?!?!