"RoseGarden" - - - - - - - from - nscave

We just went through some municipal elections across our province this weekend. Usually I am not too politically motivated, although I do pay attention to the proceedings both during and after election time, since it usually affects my tax contributions.

Electronic Voting

eVoting was available in some localities for the first time. Being a computer geek, I was interested in how this would work out and voted that way myself.

Election Results

During last evening I was interested in how things were going, not only in my own city area, but also in certain country areas as well.

Figuring we had moved further into the new technology era with eVoting and all, the results should be easy to find and stay current with.

Wrong!

Not On TV

Checking the TV channels, including local where I am presently located,  - nothing. No mention of anything in the election line anywhere on the guide.

Online Mr. Internet

Nearly everything is accomplished online these days, so I begin looking on the internet. Of course Twitter and Facebook were going full force as they usually are. But how do you tell the wheat from the chaff? This can be anything from individuals offering opinions to unofficial official information.

After some searching I find one TV media outlet online with a live video feed giving results. Well sort of. A group of people around a 'round' table sort of chatting and occasionally suggesting what some results might be.

In fact, they are even taking phone calls from some of the candidates who assume they are winning - or maybe not. Sort of like victory speeches, but maybe not. "We will know for sure later."

Over Capacity

The information as I saw it, was the phone lines were over capacity, and the results were coming in rather sporadic, if at all. So what I am hearing and seeing is really filler material.

Day After Results

So this morning I begin my search again for the areas I am interested in.  Finding out who won the major mayor positions in two cities was easy. To find out who won in some of the ridings was still a task in itself. Depending on who and where you read, you might find out.

To find out who was successful in some of the rural areas took 8 to 12 pages of clicking. Something the average computer user likely wouldn't be able to do, or at least would give up in frustration.

Yes we have eVoting in some places, instant TV for news they want us to hear, and often the fastest internet anywhere on the planet.

As for finding out something current that we want to know quickly, I don't think we are there yet.   Click here for fast.

This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License