Stupid idea of the day

[andrewducker]

If voting took place over a couple of days, with counting going on simultaneously, and the results available in real time, then this would encourage more people to participate as time went on, if they saw that the result was close, and thus their vote mattered.

Has this ever been tried, and if so, what appalling side-effects did it have?

Comments

[lizw.livejournal.com]

... which could lead to distorting effects based on different routines amongst different demographics. Consider, for instance, how the interim figures would change through the day - and how those fluctuations might affect votes - if one party is disproportionately popular with workers who vote on their way to the early shift, another with parents who vote on their way back from the school run, and yet another with young unemployed people who vote later in the day.

[andrewducker]

Which was why I said multi-day :->

But I can certainly see it changing things - the question is whether keeping it secret is a distortion or making it public is a distortion, or whether they're just different effects.