Could a text message voting system work for the presidential election?
Flipping through the channels today I saw a surprising statistic. MTV's show "America's Best Dance Crew" is presenting its finale tonight. The show has a very similar premise to "American Idol" except that its for dance teams. The groups perform once a week and then rely on the dedication/fanaticism of the viewers to text message their vote for the top group. As of about 5pm, over 36,000,000 people had voted for their choice. In 2006, 65 million people voted in the "American Idol" finale.
This made me wonder, how many people voted in the last presidential election?
According to this article over 122 million people voted in the last presidential election. This number represented close to 61% of registered voters, the highest voter turn out since 1968.
But what if voters had the option to send in their vote by text message or online? Imagine if voting for the next leader of our country was as easily accessible as voting for our next "Best Dance Crew". Voter turn-out could potentially sky-rocket. Ballots could be counted instantly with greater accuracy. People who are overseas, bedridden, or who just can't make it to the polls because of work hours could text their choice. Voters who don't drive, are afraid to brave the weather (since it is in November), or are just plain lazy would really have no excuse not to voice their opinion.
In order to vote, you would need your voter registration number (which is automatically assigned to you anyway). In late September/early October, the government would send you that friendly reminder card with a special telephone number and a list of the candidates along with the location of your polling place. If you chose to text message your vote you would use the telephone number provided. In the body of your message you would type your voter registration number followed by the names of your choices for each office. This would ensure that only registered, of-age voters would be able to participate. If there were still problems, maybe a phone-in vote could be instituted with some type of voice recognition program. A password protected website could also work in a similar fashion. Maybe you would have to enter your social security number along with your voter registration number in order to gain access to the list of candidates.
And what if the government also chose to charge 50 cents per text (as many text message voting shows do)? Let's see...50 cents times 122 million is...$61 million of revenue that could be raised from text message voting. This ia money that could go to any government projects; construction, medicare/medicaid, welfare, social security, education, national security, global/environmental conservation, well, you get the picture.
Politicians, supporters, voters, registrars, and democracy saavy folks are always looking for ways to increase voter turn-out. All this time an easy, effective method has been lying in wait under our noses. So break out your cell phones, blackberries, sidekicks, and smartphones and get ready to vote for "America's Next Leader"!
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