Researchers And Registrars Debate E-Voting

Posted by timothy on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @03:00AM from the stay-on-the-line-for-a-customer-representative dept.

Paper Trail writes "There's a fascinating discussion going on right now over at SiliconValley.com. A group of computer scientists, journalists, voting activists, and county registrars are discussing the e-voting mess in an online forum that runs all this week. The panel is a who's who of e-voting: Avi Rubin, David Dill, David Jefferson, and registrars from San Bernadino and Riverside, CA. They've even got Scott Ritchie from the Open Vote Foundation. The question they're hoping to answer: "What's your assessment of the risks related to the use of electronic voting machines -- in the areas of verifiable voting, errors, recounts and manipulation -- not in the computer lab, but in a real-world setting? And how do those risks compare with current voting systems and other low-tech options?""

1 of 153 comments (clear)

Re:Vote From Home by David_W · 2004-10-13 03:30 · Score: 0, Troll

Voting from a PC at home is a bad idea because it unfairly gives people with money a chance to vote easier than without.

Um, what's wrong with making it easier for someone (even if it's only a select group) to vote? If an online/at-home voting scheme were implemented, I doubt that central polling stations would be removed, so everyone would still have at least the same opportunity they previously had, plus those with computers at home have a greater opportunity. (In fact, arguably, by having home voting it makes it easier for those who don't have computers at home because the polling stations they would use would be less crowded.)

(Note to pedants: I'm only addressing this one point. Please resist the urge to reply to me telling me the 100 other things wrong with online voting, as I already know them. :))