The Problems with Elections and What We’re Doing About It
Elections. Elections. Elections.
In any pro-democracy region, the list of problems surrounding elections are endless and expectedly so. Organising a large scale effort to assemble an entire country to decide on the direction for the next few years is by no means a small feat and the issues that come with it can be migraine-inducing.
As an example for headache exercises- what factor of complexity would you add to the problems of elections in emerging economies compared to the developed world? x2? x20?
On the 16th of February 2019, millions of Nigerians will go to polling stations to vote for their preferred candidate to govern the country for the next 4 years. It is one of the most anticipated events in West Africa for the next 5 months and preparations for it are now in full swing.
Similarly, in the next 6 months, there would be elections in Madagascar on 7 Nov 18, Guinea Bissau on 14 Nov 18, Democratic Republic of Congo on 23 Dec 18, El Salvador on the 3 Feb 19 and so on in which the outcomes will have tremendous impact on each country.
So why are we interested?
Building Things for NG is a community driven organisation of tech enthusiasts (Entrepreneurs, developers, designers, doers, makers etc) actively interested in building technological products/solutions for Nigeria.
For our third major event this year, we’re doubling down on what it means to provide solutions, bring ideas to the forefront and implement them to some degree as we continue on the journey of technological advancement.
Using the theme “Solving the problems of running successful elections in emerging economies”, with Nigeria as a focal point, we have invited various people from different ethnicities enthusiastically embroiled by this problem and we are excited for the solutions to be birthed from the Hackathon.
Striking a conversation with some participants from our Slack workspace and various other media, it is not an exaggeration when we say the problems seem endless.
Here is a little rundown of some of the problems:
- Rigging
- Voter Fraud
- Polling station locations
- Access to data
- Transparency
- Fake news
- Voter Education
- Insecurity
- Violence
- Sorting and counting
- Low voter turnout
- Lack of diversity amongst candidates
Holistically, you can say there are some low hanging problems technology can solve, but beneath the surface lies a jungle of complexity — like a drawer of a thousand cables all continuously tangled in a bundle — that is hard to separate. For example, you have to consider over 250 different languages, literacy, access to infrastructure, security, short term needs, and so on.
But it’s not just about problems that could occur during elections, there are also other issues to contend with. Such as, can we identify what the problems were with the 2015 elections and ensure they do not occur again?
What about the problems technology can cause itself? Social media platforms have been under fire lately for some of the problems caused particularly with elections in western countries and now more recently in emerging economies.
What are the ethical implications?
What are the short term gains that could cause long term pains?
These and many more are the questions we hope to answer at the hackathon.
Are you ready?
