UK Notices That E-Voting May Be Problematic
from the oh,-they-just-noticed? dept
Apparently, it hadn’t really been thought through before, but the UK government is now realizing that earlier plans to let people vote in elections electronically from home may not be the best idea. Not only does it not actually seem to increase voter turnout by very much, but it also makes people a lot more afraid that the system will be scammed. And, since no one seems to want to put in place any kind of systems to try to better prevent scamming the e-voting system, perhaps we’re better off avoiding it completely.
Comments on “UK Notices That E-Voting May Be Problematic”
No Subject Given
Paper ballots and hand counting seem to work in Canada during Federal and Provincial elections. Results are usually available within an hour or less of polls closing. Keep it simple stupid should be the mantra.
Re: No Subject Given
That’d be fine if we thought people would actually turn out to vote but the elctronic option was suggested in an attempt to get all the lazy people over here who cant be bothered to get off their fat arse, walk down the street and post a bit of paper in a black box to vote from their desk in the office or at home. Its less effort that way you see and maybe some of the lazy f**kers may become more inclined to join in. I mean, after all, it is only the opportunity to voice your opinion on how the country is run – not worth goin outside for, is it !
Re: Re: No Subject Given
I don’t think that it is because people are lazy. I think it is because people feel disconnected from their government. Why bother voting when it does not seem to make a difference? Politically, the US has become a bitterly divided country.
Go into any message board on Yahoo and the discussion will eventually devolve into a red vs blue, lib vs con, repub vs dem discussion. It’s us or them – “you’re either with us or against us”. You have to a pick a side. And I think that the voting populace in the US are sick and tired of having to pick sides.
You hear politicians talking about cutting spending or using your tax dollars wisely. Meanwhile, the politicians pass a transportation bill that is loaded with pork, all in the name of job creation and economics. People create jobs. People create markets. People drive the economy. People want a government that governs and leaves them alone.
Sorry to rant, but I’m sick and tired of politicians and bureaucrats telling people what they can and can’t do, how their money should be spent and so on. I’m a government employee and I cannot take it when my managers turn the a simple process or task into a complex one – just so they can cover their assess. Hey, I have no problem putting my ass on the line. Back to reality.
Problems with E-voting
1) Any voting system is only as good as its weakest link. If you allow more ways to vote – in person, by post, Web, SMS etc. – a fraudster will pick whichever is easiest to scam. Meanwhile the police effort is diluted because they have to cover all these channels.
2) E-voting is relatively immature and vulnerable to hacking. Look at all the failed attempts at copy-protection for example.
However online feedback forms are a great use of the technology and – while results should be treated with caution – they certainly let people tell politicians what they think.
Re: Problems with E-voting
What we need is an electronic device hardwired only for voting and a distributed memory system to save every vote on every machine, so that tampering with one of them will be instantly noticed. If every voter had one of these machines, there would be no problems counting votes.