Votes happen all over the world and I know south of the border the imminent midterm election is just days away, too, but here in western Canada we’re having a politically charged referendum^[1] on the future of our province.

That said, this is not an overtly political project.

I’m deeply invested in the political part, of course, but in the context of this project what has me thinking is the effect of the economics of attention on the reporting aspect.  We were joking (darkly and with deep sighs) that because of the complexity of the process, the volume of questions, and the stakes of the outcome, it could easily take multiple days for the final results to be known, even though the polling is leaning towards a landslide.

My followup consideration, also dark and filled with deep sighs) was just that: How much theatre emerges from this process before, during, and after such democratic events that are the result of media attention prioritizing drama and tension over clarity and confidence?

The algorithm thrives on this.

My attempts to steer my personal feeds away from this topic has been all but futile, the recommendation engine seeming to grip with force onto even the slightest hint of lingering attention on this topic, funnelling what I see along a path of charged political content. I hardly need to explain this. Likely every person reading this post will have experienced something similar.

Attention, after all, holds value, and value drives the further manipulation of our attention.

My dark joke was that we may not know the results of this vote for days after it concludes—and that we can be sure the local media will be broadcasting every tense moment, posting countless breathless articles, and milking every click of attention value they can from the spectacle.

Welcome to what counts for democracy in 2026. Pour another drink and hang on.