What do I think the greatest impact technology will have on this election – and this Election Day in particular? I think technology, and the Internet in particular, will feed America’s need for speed. News sites will be posting flash polls. Bloggers from all perspectives will be hunting out evidence of voter fraud with a ‘gotcha’ mentality. At every turn, there will be a fight to be first. And that is not necessarily a good thing.

I spent Election Day 2000 (and several days after) in a hotel room in Nashville, Tennessee tracking exit polls and results. I was on Vice President Gore’s staff then, tasked with knowing everything that was going on around the nation. The Internet and other technologies (Instant Messenger, my blackberry, etc.) played a big role in my work that day. But we all know what happened in 2000. Looking back, I would have happily given up the advantage of being first if all the information I received from around the country was certain to be correct.

This year, I will be watching the Internet from my apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the latest updates on the race. I want to know the outcome of this election as much as the next person, trust me. But I am also willing to wait until the polls close and the votes are counted. I don’t want this election to drag on for an extra day, let alone an extra month. American democracy is a slow and deliberative process. If we are patient, we might just get a full count of all the votes that people can agree is fair.

Speed is not a bad thing, but it sets a standard that is very hard to live up to. I suggest we find ways to use technology to make it easier for all people to cast their ballots and for election officials to count (and if necessary, recount) those votes accurately. In four more years, I would like to look back and say that was the greatest impact on the Election.

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