Voting is seen as an American ideal, one of the most
important representations and expressions of our citizenship and democracy. We
all take pride in our right to vote, as people in various other nations aren’t
afforded the same luxury that we have. However, the voting system is clearly
not perfect, as the technological advancement of the last few decades have led
to serious problems, such as the recent issues that struck the Democratic Iowa
Caucus recently, where the use of technology being implemented into the voting
process has come under questioning.
For the Iowa Caucus, the app that the democratic party chose
to collect the voting data and tally the results brutally failed. As reported by
the New
York Times, the new app by Shadow Inc. was hastily built, which caused trouble
for county officials in Iowa who were trying to report the results from their
counties, and couldn’t seem to access the app. Iowa precincts found trouble
with reporting the results of the caucus, and chairmen and officials looking to
submit voting results were stuck mindlessly on hold for multiple hours as the
democratic party rushed to fix the issues.
One of the more alarming aspect of the whole debacle was
that the Democratic party didn’t announce the inclusion of the Shadow Inc.’s
app in the Iowa Caucus process. The app had had trouble prior to the caucus when
there were too many users, or with poor service. This It made it appear that
the Democratic party hadn’t put the proper time or effort into making sure the
app of quality to handle the caucus. This resulted in voters and county
officials feeling blindsided by the app’s technical issues, and the democratic
party was left with a black eye for its poor planning.
This online voting mishap didn’t just create criticism for
the Democratic party, but it also created questions about technology being
implemented into processes such as voting as well. Clearly this is an instance
where the proper planning and testing weren’t utilized, but I see this misuse
of technology as a way that can still leave some bad impressions in the mind of
voters.
People already have strong negative views on voting, considering
some believe that the process is easily manipulated by those in power, and that
their votes don’t even matter. Seeing something like this, where a major political
party complicates the voting process through the use of technology can turn those
who are on the fence about voting off, and make it appear like more of a hassle.
We are so used to technology making it easier for all of us
to communicate. However, it’s important to see its benefits as well as its detriments.
This technological mishap can be a detriment to the voting process, as it can discourage
possible voters. All in all, this shows how we have to be cautious with implementing
technology into our electoral process, as the problems that can arise from it
can be harming to various processes of communication, just as the shadow Inc.
app did to Iowan voters.
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