paused for a little while, thinking. “Although, in retrospect, the electoral process has been maintained almost unchanged for more than a hundred years because my fellow legislators are mostly risk-adverse. With the exception of a few isolated precincts innovative enough to deploy some form of technology to this process, the majority of the country still votes on paper today.”
“Then how exactly were you able to see this through? Walk us through what it took to get this overhaul approved.”
“It wasn’t extremely hard, either, once we formulated it and submitted it for debate. Just more difficult than I had anticipated.” Senator Mulligan paused, arranged his already perfect tie, and then resumed. “Before submitting it, I met with several technology leaders in Silicon Valley and worked through some scenarios, identified some of the pitfalls, and worked through a proof of concept. I wanted to make sure we’re not wasting time and effort or running the risk of overlooking any potential issues.”
“I guess it helps having Silicon Valley right there by your side, doesn’t it?” Stephanie interjected.
“Sure it does.” The Senator smiled right back, an open and friendly smile.
“Was this a Democratic initiative?”
“Well, not at the start. At first, when I suggested it, the voices of opposition were on all sides of the political spectrum. Now it has the full support of the Democratic Party. We worked through that, and we were able to rally enough initial support to make it go to vote. I think the strategic and historical dimensions of this initiative transcend the Party lines and reach deep into our very cores as political leaders.”
“What were the main reasons why legislators voted against it?”
“Fear of change, risk aversion, fear of technology, just to name a few. The opponents are intimidated at the thought of changing anything in one of the cornerstone processes of our democracy.” The Senator thought for a few seconds, and then a mischievous smile appeared in his eyes. “But let’s keep in mind America builds the same home designs it did fifty years ago, just because it’s safer, easier, and cheaper to do so. No one wants to take on the risk of building new, modern home designs that people could potentially be reluctant to embrace. The typical neighborhood in suburban America looks exactly the same way it did halfway through last century, because at the end of the day, Americans are, simply put, risk adverse. Change adverse. And that is the biggest roadblock in the path of innovation and progress.”
“Maybe we should have started with this question: how will it all work? What will change in the voting process? How will the voters’ experience change?”
“Very little will actually change in the voters’ experience, but this change will be critical. The voters will still be registered, as they are now. Nothing new there. Their voter registration cards will be reissued every two years; again, nothing new. The registration cards will have bar codes on them, still nothing new. On Election Day, inside the booths there will be touch-screen devices, very similar to tablets, only mounted on small stands inside the booths. These devices will have bar code readers, so the voter will be able to scan their registration card to start the voting process. Once they scan their card, they will be presented with information on the screens, walking them through the entire voting process. So, for example, the first screen will show ‘President and Vice President’ options, and voters will simply touch the names they want to cast their votes. When touched, that specific candidate’s section on the screen will be highlighted in green, and the device will prompt the voter to hit ‘continue’ if they accept the selection. Then they continue to the next screen, one vote at a time. Very simple and straightforward.”
“Yes, absolutely,” Stephanie approved. “What happens in the background? How does it all work?”
“That’s where all the beauty is. The voting system will be housed by a data processing government contractor, vetted by the NSA, with the highest levels of security in place. The versatility of this new system enables the device to offer all the state-specific and local ballots upon reading the registered voter cards. This system will aggregate and process all information as votes are collected, so we will have our ballot results within minutes after booths close. Additionally, having a precise record of each and every vote, time stamped and location stamped, will completely eliminate all the suspicions around vote tampering or manipulation, thus cleaning up our voting process.”