Election day technology

It was good to hear that the widespread concerns with new voting machines did not cause serious problems this year, although Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri seemed to have a larger share of those problems (perhaps because they have a larger number of new machines). Some polls in Indiana stayed open later than 6pm because equipment failed to work when polls opened this morning. There were reports throughout the nation of such problems.

A number of reports are commenting on blogs and YouTube as new media influences on the political process, as in the New York Times article this morning. They report on 2 blogs, Redstate.com and Bradblog.com as active followers and reporters throughout yesterday's election. Particularly, the Times notes the use of YouTube to enhance blog reports:

And in a new twist this year, many bloggers buttressed their accounts of electoral shenanigans with links to videos posted on the video Web site YouTube.....Erick Erickson, RedState’s chief blogger, also included a report of poll watcher intimidation in Philadelphia, along with a link to a video on YouTube that appeared to show a certified poll observer (armed with a video camera) being blocked from a polling station.www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-HK_VT81Pk&e

Analysis of the influence of these tools on the political process will continue post-election, but Harvard Law professor Jonathon Zittrain had this to say in the Times article:

That the blog now has a firm place in the choreography of national events — and in elections perhaps more so than in any other cultural exercise — is a boon to the democratic process, said Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of Internet governance at Oxford University and a co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard.

“In a lot of ways they’re helping to set the agenda for the mainstream media in fast-moving events like this,” Mr. Zittrain said. “They just need to be able to produce enough that’s credible quickly to give a lead.”

If others have heard interesting stories, or have thoughts about technologies that were (or not!) used, please post/comment.