From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Mon Nov 13 2000 - 17:52:11 MST
At 09:33 AM 13/11/00 -0800, Hal wrote:
>It's true that people's behavior may change if they know
>more about what is going on, including how people are voting during the
>course of election day. But IMO we have to accept this kind of change.
Posit an electronic poll with cumulative vote tallies posted
instantaneously to the net and other media. In a dispersed time zone nation
like the USA (or Oz, although our least populous states are over on the
west), this will presumably see enormous chaotic fluctuations among
undecided voters, increasingly feverish efforts to get out the vote as the
long day wears on, etc. Naively, this is surely a good thing (assuming that
voting is not intrinsically wicked); in practice, maybe it would provide
information giving some moeities more advantage than others and more
incentive for targeted bribes/dirty tricks etc.
Damien Broderick
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