{"text":[[{"start":7.24,"text":"The writer is author of the forthcoming book ‘The Majority Myth — How Voting Really Works’"}],[{"start":13.43,"text":"It is one of the oddities of public life in western democracies that, despite decades of digital transformation, the way we vote remains fundamentally untouched. Technology has been added but unimaginatively: electronic voting machines and online ballots simply facilitate the same system. The ballot box is treated as if it were a sacred relic, yet our voting customs are not so old. "}],[{"start":42.97,"text":"The secret ballot was introduced in the UK in 1872 to prevent landlords from intimidating tenants — as with other voting rules, it was a practical fix, not a constitutional ideal. The problems have changed and technology now affords opportunities for voting that the architects of our election systems could never have imagined. "}],[{"start":67.32,"text":"One of the weaknesses of modern elections is the lack of information transmitted by the outcomes. Voting produces a result but does not guide the winner. Contrary to the phrase “the people have spoken”, the electorate emits more of a monosyllable — approval or rejection. For a contrast, think of the US Supreme Court, where the votes include an opinion and a summary of the justices’ thinking, enabling those who apply the decision to understand what was intended. "}],[{"start":96.97,"text":"With AI now able to aggregate patterns of reasoning, an anonymised national rationale for the support for parties and how it affected an electoral outcome could be created — it would be a resource to refer to when politicians claim to know what voters elected them to do. "}],[{"start":116.61,"text":"One promising system is range voting, which lets citizens express not just a preference but its strength. A generation ago this would have been impossible; today, it could run on any standard digital interface. Edward Saperia, dean of the London College of Political Technology, points out that such systems rarely change who wins but they can improve the tone of politics. Theatrical populism would be held in check by a genuine map of public feeling that shows which proposals enjoy support and why."}],[{"start":151.46,"text":"Other methods go further. So-called deep voting invites electors to digitally rate why they support or dislike policy choices and how intensely. Technically simple yet politically powerful, it would allow governments to see the contours of their mandate: “We elect you for your housing policy, spare us your culture wars,” for example. The people would be heard, and they could add footnotes. "}],[{"start":178.94,"text":"Even the sensitive question of voter qualification could be approached constructively. We rightly fear any restriction of the right to vote based on wealth or education. But technologically enabled weighting — for example, giving more emphasis to parents on questions to do with children — might be helpful, though it would need strict safeguards to remain fair and transparent."}],[{"start":203.47,"text":"Technology could also expand who has access to power. Citizen juries (voluntary panels, drawn at random from the voting population or from people with relevant knowledge or experience) are now feasible at large scale — containing perhaps as many as 300,000 people."}],[{"start":224,"text":"The idea that a simple majority can capture what the nation wants was exposed as fantasy with the binary choice of the UK’s 2016 Brexit referendum. If democratic procedures are part of national infrastructure, they deserve the same scrutiny and reform as railways, schools and the rest of our public services."}],[{"start":247.48,"text":"What is missing is the courage to admit that democracy has already been captured by tech. Digital networks shape what voters see, believe and discuss. Our typical response — to scold citizens into “resilience” against misinformation — displays wishful thinking. Don’t lecture the voters or denounce the tech, use it for a practical modernisation to improve democracy."}],[{"start":282.17,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1775458791_8168.mp3"}