So the idea of casting a vote (for a presidential election, for example) is kind of scary for many people.
– “How easy would it be for hackers to get into the system and contaminate votes?”
– “What about the programmers and hardware designers of the machines, that have a strong political bias?”
– “How do I know the computer will correctly record my vote?”
– …etcetera…
I think that all of these are plausible concerns, and should be addressed.
Personally, I would say that the source code, and hardware should be verified by several outside, independent consultants. This would drastically reduce the chance that the machines, or the software, would do something “unintended.” I would also emphasize keeping a paper trail (perhaps printed on a watermarked paper, or something, to show authenticity), in the case that a manual recount is called.
What would have to happen to the idea of electronic voting, in order for you to feel comfortable using it?
LilShieste
(**Note: **I haven’t been able to find a thread that addresses what I’m wanting to accomplish with this. If one exists, I have no qualms with having this thread closed, and moved to a corresponding thread.)
It has to be done with paper. I need a slip of paper that has my votes recorded on it and that I can visually check. I then put that paper in the ballot box. The day after the election, some ballot boxes are randomly selected for hand counting and the tallies checked against the machine. Any difference and the whole district gets a hand count.
Note: I have a PhD in Computer Science. Using computers to tally votes is just plain stupid, especially without a paper trail. Computers don’t make “off by one errors”, they can easily make “off by thousands” errors. In one precinct in FL in 2000, the computers added on 16000 more votes than voters. (And for Dubya, natch. That’s why Gore decided to concede then withdrew the concession. All because of that one precinct.) That was spotted and fixed. We have no idea how many other such “errors” were made since they might have been small enough to slip under the radar.
With computers, accidental or deliberate errors are astonishingly easy to make and very hard to find.
Note that Diebold also makes ATM machines which give you printed receipts. So they have the tech but deny that it’s feasible. Errr, right.
Why should electronic voting have to be any more difficult than buying something in the mall?
Seriously, large retailers have plenty of experience with collecting potentially sensitive personal financial data at the POS that is not only transmitted electronically back to their servers, but also exists as in paper form inside the register and externally as the customer’s receipt. I would have no problem with walking into a booth and placing my order.
The individual voting transactions can be assigned a unique code as a check against fraud in the event recount is needed, and the voter receipts can be printed on watermarked paper (hell, lots of store receipts already are). Server-side security is of course an issue, but it’s not as if it’s never been dealt with before.
Simplistic, I guess, but it is Friday evening and the ol’ brain cells are resisting more heavy-duty engagement.
Newsweek just ran a big article about this. I think at the least you need to have a verification screen that double-checks your vote before submission, gives you a printout, lets you change again if you discover a problem, and lets the govt. run a hand recount if they feel it necessary.
I think you should be depositing your printed slip like now, but if it says only the people you voted for, there’s not nearly the chance for misunderstandings like with punching holes.
Hell, I’ll go one step further. I’ve thought that the senate and congress should be done away with, an iron clad computer network setup and EVERYONE with a social security number HAS to vote on given issues monthly.
The only reason that we have representatives was because, at one time, the thought was, there are too many people to hear their voice correctly.
With the Internet, EVERYONE can be heard individually if done correctly.
Probably will never happen though. It would be too much of a majority ruling. And, we CAN’T have that.
