As we begin the fiasco that is the primary elections and embark on another year of electing a President, I can’t help but think there has to be a better way to do it. By “IT”, I am referring to voting. Already, we are one Iowa Caucus down and controversy over who “won” that state looms large. It’s ridiculous.
If everyone forgot, it’s actually 2016. There are cars on the road that can drive themselves, small computers in everyone’s pocket, and the word “streaming” is synonymous with everything. This is the world we live in. Yet, despite all of the technological advances, our country still makes you register to vote, drive to some local government building, step into one of those “private” booths, use a pen to nominate our next President, and put it in a box. No wonder our voter turnout is piss poor. The people that do have the right to vote, should. Why don’t we make it easier then?
There’s only one logical person that needs to be consulted and sought out to bring voting to every US citizen and that’s Mark Zuckerberg. Yes, that Mark Zuckerberg. Now, here me out for a minute.
If the government can take forever to build the healthcare.gov site and incur the many blunders it did early on then why not look to an established platform that pretty much controls the population anyways. Americans spend more time on Facebook per day than any other website by far. If we want to change our politics and truly get everyone we can to vote then the people need to be more involved and informed. There is no better platform to do that than Facebook. So, let’s lay out some simple facts on why I’d propose this as a solution.
1. An extremely high percentage of Americans are already on Facebook so you have a captive and engaged audience. If you’re not, you can sign up very easily. We can check that box.
2. It is secure. Rarely do we hear of hacking Facebook accounts therefore the opportunity to “game” the system is relatively low.
3. I’m confident a simple program can be written to confirm your social security number and that you are, in fact, a citizen and of the legal age. It can be done.
4. Accuracy and speed is crucial (we all remember 2000, right? Technically should have been President Gore. This opportunity would provide real time insight into the elections and provide voters with rich overviews of candidates and their information should you need to refresh your memory. Also, no more “hanging chads”.
5. It’s time. Why are we voting the way my grandparents did? The resources it takes to run polling sites and the amount of error that can occur is ridiculous. This can be all but eradicated with a central online location for the masses to come vote.
These are just a couple of logical reasons Facebook may be an avenue to solve our voting woes. The government can certainly build something themselves but why try to reinvent the wheel. For the time being, it just makes sense. I know the chances are slim to none something like I am proposing would happen. Hell, there are many political figures trying to keep voter turnout low. Maybe, just maybe, if enough people voice concerns then there might be a legitimate chance to break into the 21st century for something so important to our future as electing the President of the United States.
Hope you enjoyed my perspective.
Thank you.