Used properly electric reels are a great way to catch sword fish.
As anyone who goes sword fishing will know most of the time you are winding up 4-500m of line, You may or may not have your weight still attached and often also be winding up one of the many undesirable species as by-catch. If you enjoy doing this 5-10 times a day then an electric reel is not for you. But if you want to fish smarter, Then you can use the electric reel when you are not connected to a sword fish, And use the handle and fight the fish exactly the same as the guy in the next boat who is using a Tiagra.
Using an electric will allow you to do more drops over the day as it is quicker to retrieve. And if you are unsure if your bait is intact after a bite you are more likely to check it.
In America it may be popular to use Electric only reels and fight fish from the rod holder but thats not the way we do it here in NZ. Having said that from some of the misinformed comments here a lot of you guys do your fishing from the couch