The US is probably the world's leading country in adoption of technology and the world's second largest democracy. In spite of this it record in ensuring flawless elections has been dismal. During the penultimate Presidential Election and now during the current elections - too much technology has probably become the Achilles heel for the US.
This is especially amusing considering that India - a much larger democracy, but a technologically a much primitive society manages to conduct its elections almost flawlessly (in terms of technicalities - social problems like Booth Capturing do continue to cast a shadow on democratic processes in India). T P Sreenivasan has quoted many appropriate examples of America's failure to be able to conduct flawless elections. I quote:
"The last time I watched US election results back in 2000, the overwhelming thought was not the enormity of the change, but surprise over the sheer inability of the SuperPower to manage an election without snags. This time, as I followed the election results from a Washington hotel room, the thought was not very different.
"The media had alerted the government to the possibility of malfunctioning machines long before the elections. People had suspicion not only that machines might malfunction, but also that they might be manipulated.
"Curiously, neither the electoral officers, nor the manufacturers of the machines cared to assuage the concerns of the public in this regard. "
The result of the elections however, have not been much different than expected - Democrats have gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 12 years.
This is especially amusing considering that India - a much larger democracy, but a technologically a much primitive society manages to conduct its elections almost flawlessly (in terms of technicalities - social problems like Booth Capturing do continue to cast a shadow on democratic processes in India). T P Sreenivasan has quoted many appropriate examples of America's failure to be able to conduct flawless elections. I quote:
"The last time I watched US election results back in 2000, the overwhelming thought was not the enormity of the change, but surprise over the sheer inability of the SuperPower to manage an election without snags. This time, as I followed the election results from a Washington hotel room, the thought was not very different.
"The media had alerted the government to the possibility of malfunctioning machines long before the elections. People had suspicion not only that machines might malfunction, but also that they might be manipulated.
"Curiously, neither the electoral officers, nor the manufacturers of the machines cared to assuage the concerns of the public in this regard. "
The result of the elections however, have not been much different than expected - Democrats have gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 12 years.
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