Election Technology: A Vote for Change

  Business Intelligence   Strategy  

Whether you are happy or sad about the outcome, Election 2004 has come to a close. After months of prognostication of a 2000-like debacle, Election 2004 has come and gone rather quietly--no pregnant or hanging chads, no accusations of nepotism and a clear winner. We witnessed "high" voter turnout, or at least what most would consider slightly below normal in other civilized countries. Ironically, this "high" voter turnout has exposed our nation's lack of prowess in information technology and deeply fragmented election processes.

Four years ago, Florida became our national model for electoral incompetence. Shortly after the 2000 debacle, Florida vowed to clean up its mess and implement electronic voting. It spent millions of dollars, and in 2002 rolled out its glitzy hodge-podge of touch-screen voting and optical scanner. Any intelligent person would question why Florida could not agree upon a single electronic voting medium, but through whatever convoluted decision-making process, Florida chose multiple electronic technologies. Its 2002 gubernatorial election was marked by electronic voting failures and total chaos. This is in essence what the supposed poster child for election reform was able to accomplish in two years. It was just pathetic.

Fast forward two years, Florida has seemed to finally get its act together. Its electronic voting technology …

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