When we say technology works, we usually mean it fits. It handles a problem without handing us a new one, feels like second nature instead of an intrusion, and doesn’t treat people like afterthoughts. But the way most digital tools get...
Most of us live inside systems we never agreed to. The software that structures our workday, the platforms mediating our friendships, the public databases that decide who gets a loan or a visa—these things shape life more intimately than many laws....
Elections aren’t just about counting votes. They’re about belief. When someone fills in a bubble or presses a button, they have to trust the process is straight, the tally is right, and the outcome says what the people meant. That trust...
In the quiet stretch before an election, the tools we use to make sense of the world fade into the background. We scroll. We search. We watch. And somewhere in that stream, we decide what to believe—or what to doubt. I’ve...
Back when I first started working in elections, paper was the thing that kept me up at night—ballot design quirks, signature mismatches, the chain of custody forms that piled up in county storage rooms. The digital side was thin, mostly vote...
I’ve spent years examining the machinery of democracy, often from behind a screen that glows with promises of efficiency and connection. The central question I keep returning to is not whether digital tools are good or bad for elections—that framing is...
I spend a lot of time thinking about the architecture of participation. That phrase comes from my years at Facebook, where I worked on civic engagement products, and it’s become my shorthand for how the design of a digital tool shapes...
I’ve spent years watching how technology interacts with the basic act of casting a vote. A well-designed digital tool can make an election feel more accessible, more transparent, more ours. But a poorly implemented one—or one deployed with bad intent—does the...
I don’t trust technology. I trust people. I’ve been an election official long enough to watch digital tools reshape how voters and the system interact—sometimes for the better, sometimes in ways that make me catch my breath. Some tools earn trust....
Open data carries a promise of transparency. Governments, researchers, and institutions release datasets believing that freely available information will spark better decisions, accountability, and fresh ideas. But after years of working where data, policy, and communities collide, I keep noticing the...
I’ve spent years working right where technology bumps up against public service, and if there’s one thing I’ve picked up, it’s this: good intentions don’t automatically lead to people using what you build. Civic apps—the ones meant to help folks vote,...
Listen to almost any public agency announce a new digital platform and you’ll hear a familiar script: it will boost efficiency, slash costs, and put services right in citizens’ pockets. The promise feels so obvious that pushing back can sound like...