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Is A Reasonable Effort At Democracy Enough?
from the it's-a-sort-of-democratic-election dept
While other states are being more proactive about stopping bad e-voting machines, Maryland has decided it's just too much effort to, you know, make sure democracy works right. A judge there has decided that, you know what, the folks in Maryland have tried pretty hard on this whole thing, and even if the machines don't really work right and are opening to tampering, it's the thought that counts. Because they've made a "reasonable effort" to ensure the machines are safe, they can be used. Why should the "effort" matter, rather than the actual state of the machines? While it's true that other methods also have their problems, that doesn't mean that the current machines should be given a pass for being "good enough." There are clear ways to improve them and make them even less prone to mistakes or fraud, and there's no reason not to do so.
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evoting
"Do not confuse effort with results"
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effort=less
I wonder if the "reasonable effort" standard could be applied in other cases...say......P2P. As in: "The court finds eDonkey to have made a reasonable effort to ensure their products are not used in a way harmful to copyright holders. Mr. Valenti, you may now go to hell."
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Actually not a bad ruling
"There are clear ways to improve them and make them even less prone to mistakes or fraud, and there's no reason not to do so."
In this context, there are reasons not to do so. The general election is 2 months away and changing things now would be completely irresponsible. The voting system Md bought is far from perfect but this actually was a good ruling from a judge who understood 1) that it takes a lot of preparation to run an election and 2) that election officials *are* committed to a fair election (to put things simply). The fact that they have to work with an inferior system is largely not their fault and I know from direct experience that they do everything they can to ensure that everything goes well.
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