Hardly Anyone Cares About Computer Voting Problems

Avidwriter writes "It's a sad thought that Roblimo explores in a NewsForge article about computer voting fraud and how you'd think all honest politicians would be working to make sure computerized voting systems are open source, and why open source wouldn't hurt well-run voting machine companies' profits. Not that most people care, since they don't even bother to vote, right?"

Comments

Re:in australia I hear they have mandatory voting

[croddy]

There is a need in the US for a better voter turnout

personally I'm tired of the mostly-uneducated masses making political decisions. experts make (or review) all legal actions; experts design and administer computer systems; experts control high-level financial decisions. and even with our best and brightest running the game in these fields, there are problems sometimes.

the need is for a government to protect the rights of the citizen, period. giving the susceptible public control over the system is not a means to that end.

I hope for lower turnout.

Re:in australia I hear they have mandatory voting

[croddy]

well actually, I advocate monarchy, but a lot of people are closed-minded about it and reject it without consideration so I don't expect to win anyone over here. the climate has to be ripe, and someone will step in. keep in mind that a large, developed nation is a very different atmosphere from the small developing nation that tends to develop military dictators.

I think the reality is that fear of assasination will keep a monarch in line; it might work particularly well in a large country with a dense population. the king/queen is simply recognized as the ruler; there's no party animosity or voting scandals or congress for corporations to buy out.

I'm aware of the risks, but look what 'representative democracy' has accomplished -- by and large, a system where the elites are ruling anyway. viz DMCA.

Re:Are paper ballots any more secure?

[IM6100]

They aren't allowed to ask you for ID.

It seems ridiculous, but because there's often a fee associated with getting a drivers license or non-driving picture ID, requiring said ID is viewed as 'discrimination' and forbidden.

And let's not even get started with the big 'Get Out The Vote' drives conducted by a particular wing of the political establishment that target populations likely to have high percentages of illegal aliens....