Pierre Poutine, in the computer room with a server?

The NDP's leadership vote counting travails are taking on the spectre of a Tom Clancy thriller, as we await further details on just what happened on convention Saturday as the NDP's online voting system struggled to say the least.

Whether an internal failure of Scytl Canada and its Spanish provided voting system (uh, optically we're not sure going off shore plays to the NDP's labour and more nationalist orientated base) or a nefarious plot by non NDP members seeking to wreak havoc on the proceedings, the simple fact is that electronic voting would seem to have a few bugs to work out before it's tested out on the general population.

Eventually the NDP tabulated the tallies and gave us Thomas Mulcair, either would be NDP voters gave up or somehow found the patience to Tommy Douglas to carry on and try and try again leading to deliverance at the electronic ballot box.

So now we wait, hopeful that the NDP will provide us all with details of the investigation into what went wrong and who was responsible.

Until then, perhaps the most secure employees in the nation on Monday belonged to the folks at Elections Canada, with their quaint little paper ballots and cardboard ballot boxes, old tech as they are, at the moment they still seem perhaps the most reliable approach to ensuring the democratic way continues on...

Globe and Mail-- Well over 10,000 computers used in attack on NDP leadership vote
Globe and Mail-- NDP hunts for source of cyber-attack on electronic voting system
Toronto Star-- Official mum about source of cyber-attack meant to disrupt online voting
Winnipeg Free Press-- Attack on NDP voting massive
Ottawa Citizen-- Cyber attack not behind low turnout for NDP leadership vote party says
CBC-- NDP voting disruption deliberate, hard to track
iPolitics-- Cyberattack hurt Cullen's chances: campaign manager
Canada.com-- NDP technical difficulties result of cyber-attack
CTV-- NDP determined to find source of cyber attack