Twenty-First Century Politics, North

One of the most impressive aspects of the Obama campaign was its technological savvy. They're still at it, of course--posting today's versions of Fireside Chats, sending updates by email, you name it.

This weekend, the New Democratic Party of Ontario is selecting its provincial leader. They still rely on the older technologies--this household has had at least one phone call a night, usually two and sometimes more--but the selection process is interestingly new, at least to me.

Before this meeting, members of the NDP could mail in a ballot to arrive by March 3. Members could also vote online. And now that the convention has started, members can still vote online; they can also vote by phone. The voting instructions assure members that they can vote only once. Apparently American Idol-style voting isn't acceptable.

Four candidates are running. When you vote, you put them in order from 1 to 4--1 is your first choice, 4 is last. It's also possible to vote for fewer than four candidates but you still have to rank the ones you pick.

It seems like a good system, partly because it's what we might call "multi-channel" if we were into "trenz": material arrives in the mail, information comes through phone calls, other forms of paper are also available various places, and of course there are the online options.

In another ten years, it might be possible to eliminate all the paper--but not yet. My late father was interested in the world and in life, but he didn't have a computer or the skills to learn from someone's website. It frustrated him when someone said "you can find all that online." He couldn't. And I like that this NDP system makes allowances for that.