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I wonder what the Founding Fathers would have thought of our instant results
elections?
It's hard to resist the siren call of election results [1] because all of us
have a vested interest in our candidate getting elected and hopefully the
mass of voter fraud that other candidate engages in will be caught and
stopped.
But I think instant results in near real time are bad overall—it must totally
suck to live in Alaska and have the election all but called even before the
polling stations are closed. And if you don't care for Alaska because of that
candidate, then what about Hawaii, the birthplace of that other candidate
(you know, The One)? It must be tough for citizens of both states to feel
like they contributed to a national election.
I'm actually surprised that there isn't a law preventing poll results to be
released until all polls across the country are closed (for a national
election—obviously for more local matters, results can be issued as soon as
the relevant polls are closed). I would think at the very least this would
give all parties a bit more leeway to engage in a bit of election chicannery
(for those that require a more cynical viewpoint of things).
[1]
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/elections/#2008_election
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