Get Herald RSSOn Tuesday, March 4, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton made yet another "comeback" in the dramatic Democratic nomination battle. Winning Ohio and Rhode Island, as well as the primary portion of the Texas competition, her campaign was given new life, though she only inched closer to Barack Obama in the delegate count. But another dormant controversy - what to do about the Florida and Michigan delegates - sprung up again.
To briefly summarize the situation, the Michigan and Florida delegations to the Democratic National Convention (held Aug. 25 to 28) were penalized for the decisions of their respective state legislatures to move their original primary contests up in the calendar. Michigan held its primary on January 15, and Florida had its contest on January 29. Because the Democratic National Committee allowed only four states to hold primaries before Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, Michigan and Florida were stripped of their delegates, and Democratic candidates largely agreed not to campaign in those states.
As the nomination process has progressed, Clinton and Obama have come to a virtual tie, and the question of what to do with these delegates has become more important and complex. Many Democrats think that a do-over would be in the best interest of the states and the party. Predictably, the various parties involved have reached an impasse over funding. CNN suggests that the combined cost of the two contests could reach $30 million.
As Chairman of the DNC, Howard Dean is in quite the pickle. If he wants either Democrat to win the general election, he can't "waste" $30 million holding make-up contests in these two states. At the same time, he realizes the importance of the states in the general election, and understands that alienating the Democratic electorate in either state could pave the way for a McCain victory in November.
But if the Democrats had any creativity, they would revel in this opportunity to find an innovative, democratic solution that doesn't cost $30 million or take 90 days to set up. Here's my idea: use Florida and Michigan as the guinea pigs for the first-ever official electoral contest held over the Internet.
The process would involve taking all registered Democrats (and in Michigan, registered independents who did not vote in the Republican contest) and giving them a one-time username for the election Web site. When the polls open, voters would go online and cast their votes from the comfort of their homes. The polls could be open for the standard 12-hour period or longer.
People with no computer or Internet access could be accommodated with special computers at public libraries and poll-workers to help with the computers. Given the relative ubiquity of internet access, Florida and Michigan would not need anywhere near as many polling stations as would be needed in a standard election.
Internet security is the liability for Internet voting. State governments need to ensure that elections are safe and secure. A primary on the Internet would be a prime opportunity for hackers. Internet elections would also be susceptible to small-time voter fraud, like John, the liberal college student who votes twice - once for himself and once for Grandma.
But there are many ways to address hacking. The election Web site's domain name could be kept secret while officials are working on the site. Voters could be required to confirm various pieces of personal information when they log in, ensuring that the person voting is the same person who registered to vote. Internet security professionals could monitor the system during the voting period. Perhaps it's naive, but I can't accept that Internet voting is impossible due to security issues. It should be noted that traditional voting systems also run into problems with reliability and validity (see Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004).
The benefits of Internet voting warrant the difficulties involved with its implementation. And an imperfect system is better than the unseemly alternative - disenfranchising primary voters in Florida and Michigan.
Most importantly, an Internet primary could save time and money. Officials in Florida are already contemplating ways to raise soft-money donations. If we can enlist major Internet companies for soft-money or in-kind donations (Google, Facebook?) an Internet primary could be effective and efficient. Companies would likely jump at the chance to boost their publicity, and the DNC could avoid a funding dilemma.
If the DNC uses the Florida and Michigan fiasco as an opportunity to be creative and improve our democratic processes, the people of Michigan and Florida will benefit and democracy will prosper.
Max Chaiken '09, chapter coordinator for Brown Students for Obama, is actually a hacker waiting to sabotage this contest
