They're holding elections in this country in a few days — and as a fan of the game of politics, I'm devouring every tidbit of news. And while I don't speak politics here, I did have a technological thought that struck my fancy.
Listening to the media, you hear a lot of folks concerned about electronic voting, fearful of hacking or other shenanigans. (Actually, up where I live, we're still using pencil and paper ballots, but...!) This gave me cause to wonder: Why don't we let the state lottery commissions run the elections?
Think about it: People today go to convenience stores and give some numbers they've selected to a guy with a cash register. You get a paper receipt back; the state has its own record; and it's all anonymous. There's hundreds of millions of dollars involved -- so there's been many years of work already to prevent the system from being hacked or the tickets counterfeited.
Now consider early voting. You go to the 7-Eleven and cast your ballot. Then Senator Belfry is exposed in the last days of the election as an evil android from Neptune. You just go to a Returns counter someplace and exchange your early vote for a new one!
Retail politics at its finest. And if you really don't know who's running, you can always request a random quick-pick...