Monday May 02, 2005

How democratic is Western Democracy really? Once every few years or in some cases even months, citizens are given the opportunity to choose their representatives. In between elections, our “elected” representatives get to run amok with our tax dollars and government. They often make unpopular decisions in years without elections, and selectively choose to make good announcements in the time running up to an election.

In essence, we have a dictatorship between elections. Between elections there is very little that common citizens can do to hold their representatives accountable. Even many of the recall and initiative policy pieces that exist in Western democracies fail to accomplish true accountability. (This is partially the result of strict regulations on the requirements for recalls and initiatives to pass.)

While it is beneficial to have the opportunity to choose one’s representatives, it is not ideal that elections force us to choose one representative to represent us on all the issues. In elections, a few issues usually end up being prioritized above the others. As a result, those candidates with what appear to be strengths in certain areas are often elected, even though there are many more issues that we may disagree with them on. How democratic is it to sacrifice viewpoints on a multitude of issues in order to have chosen representation on only a few issues?

To the horror of some, and the amusement of others, a serious and safe solution to the above may lie in technology. We live in the information age. This is an era of quick connections and instant communication.

Technical change has had a huge impact on our society. Yet our societal institutions are having trouble keeping pace with the latest technologies. As technology changes, our societal institutions should be adapting. The electoral system remains detrimentally lassoed in a centuries old system.

All social institutions should be adapting to technology including democracies. Technology provides excellent capabilities for a truer and more populist democracy. As a matter of fact, we have the opportunity to have a real-time democracy using our current technology.

Imagine having the ability to vote online. This provides for all kinds of new capabilities. Not only can one vote from the comfort of one’s own home or work, voting online allows for other interesting features. For example, by voting online, the electoral process becomes so accessible to so many, that voting could be allowed on just about any bit of legislation, process, procedure, bill, act, etc. Online voting could provide the infrastructure for a democracy that continues to run smoothly, but is more direct than the democracy seen in Ancient Athens. Online voting provides the opportunity for citizens to have a real-time shifting vote – what an amazing way to hold politicians accountable!

Online voting has many benefits. Firstly, after it is setup, it would be very efficient. The costs of maintaining an online voting system, compared to maintaining the most common current system of democratic elections would be much lower. No longer would as large a staff be required, and costly pre-election preparations to every election would no longer be required.

The benefits of voting online would be great and wide spread. Firstly, if an online voting system involved a real-time shifting vote, then politicians would continuously be held accountable. Imagine submitting your annual vote with your taxes! Parties could always have candidates running that people could shift their vote to. This means that there would always be an opposition with the possibility of getting elected, to keep the government accountable. Secondly, politicians, like most of the regular living breathing population, would always have threat of losing their jobs – this would reduce the likelihood of scandals and corruption, thus reducing the cynicism of politicians. Thirdly, a constantly shifting vote would keep parties campaigning, and thus the population would be more likely to have a better political awareness.

Technology provides the opportunity for some of the most direct democracy ever. The internet could enable citizens to vote directly on pieces of legislation. This will also serve to increase politician participation since issues can be referred directly to the people with little cost or effort. It would also result in a truer democracy in that people could represent themselves on issues.

There are, however, some apparent drawbacks to voting online. A primary one would be access. How can homeless people gain access to such a system? Or how can those without computers gain access to democracy with online voting? This is indeed an obstacle. It can be overcome by making the democratic process available at public computers in libraries and government centres. For homeless individuals and those in care facilities, enumerators could be hired at a low cost to collect votes.

A second perceived drawback is the perception that an online system is prone to corruption or manipulation. Voting online, if set up correctly, is no more prone to corruption or manipulation than any current system of democracy. Currently, most citizens do not have access to the behind-the-scenes work of the electoral process anyway. Online voting could change that. The code for online voting could be made open to inspection by the general public – not only does this provide an open accountability for the system, it provides the opportunity for feedback on the functioning of the system. It should be mentioned that there are already operating online voting systems that function error-free. In Western democracies, many political parties use online voting to select their leaders. Some jurisdictions are also already using online voter registration.

Overall, technology has many advantageous capabilities that can be harnessed to improve democracy. As other institutions start changing because of technology, hopefully the electoral process will follow suit.

Comments? Email me.