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Washington State To Allow Voter Registration Over Facebook
An anonymous reader writes "The Associated Press reports that the state of Washington will soon have an application available on its Facebook page that will let residents register to vote. Washington and other states already allow online registration, but this is the first time it will be allowed over Facebook. The state's co-director of elections, Shane Hamlin, said, 'In this age of social media and more people going online for services, this is a natural way to introduce people to online registration and leverage the power of friends on Facebook to get more people registered.' Facebook won't have access to the State's database, and Hamlin says Facebook won't collect any of the personal information with which it interacts."
Nah, no chance for vote fraud there.
Why make voting easy? Why not make it hard? That makes sure only people who care enough to at least truly believe in who they're voting for, instead of making elections a shallow beauty contest.
thing because voter turnout tends to hover at around only 50% :(
This seems like an incredibly bad idea, for several reasons:
1. People use bad passwords on Facebook
2. People get their Facebook accounts compromised all the time
3. Giving Facebook (the company) access to this kind of information scares the shit out of me.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
They support Farmville aid and voting by like button.
thing because voter turnout tends to hover at around only 50% :(
And why is that bad?
Dump voting machines! Dump Diebold! Create facebook apps and make elections by number of likes each candidate will get!
because it's usually associated with disenchantment, indifference or contentment. None of which is good. Also, a high turnout is generally perceived (globally) as an estimate legitimacy of the current voting system ... unless it's mandatory of course.
[rolling eyes]
I thought California had a lot of aerobic encephalitis cases, but the Supreme Court should simply void all elections in Washington if they're really stupid enough to involve FaceBook in the voter registration process. There's less chance of valid registrations there than when Daley's precinct wardens would gather names at the cemeteries.
because it's usually associated with disenchantment, indifference or contentment. None of which is good. Also, a high turnout is generally perceived (globally) as an estimate legitimacy of the current voting system ... unless it's mandatory of course.
And making it easy to vote just means you get disenchanted and indifferent people casting votes, votes based on nothing of substance.
Why would that be good?
If voter disenchantment and indifference are problems, figuring ways to inflate voter turnout just to get a pretty number doesn't address the problems.
I tried it.... it worked! I like it so much, I tried it again and again and again. This is more fun than sex! And you don't even have to pick a different name every time like you do in sex.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
Many states are pushing hard on voter id laws. Well, if states require voter-id with the current address on them, why require registration too? People with valid id should be able to register and vote on the same day, right?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
http://archive.org/details/EbenMoglen-WhyFreedomOfThoughtRequiresFreeMediaAndWhyFreeMedia
Reject datamining.
Reject Facebook.
Reject State survelliance.
Hamlin says Facebook won't collect any of the personal information with which it interacts
Riiiight
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
There is a chance for voter *registration* fraud -- a notably different crime with a notably different detriment to society. Voter registration fraud is criminal, but it in no way changes the outcome of our democratic elections. Since people will not be voting on Facebook, people will not be committing voter fraud on Facebook.
Small "d" democracy is about everybody voting. Not the smartest, not the richest, not those who "care enough". Everybody. We require citizenship and adult age, reasonably. We (some states, not all) then tack on a whole host of other requirements which are, in my opinion, far less reasonable: you can't be in prison, you can't be on parole, you can't have been convicted of a felony, you must have a government issued ID with your current address on it, you can only vote absentee if you will be out of town [even if the polls are open during inconvenient hours], you must register to vote 17+ days before the election, and so forth.
Not happy with the way other folks are voting? You've got a few choices. In the short term, go convince 'em to vote based on reasons or issues which *you* think are important. In the longer term, fight for things like campaign finance reform, election reform, better journalism, and better education. All the while, have conversations about politics with friends, acquaintances, and foes alike; the more people talk about politics the more likely they'll pay closer attention to political facts, theory, and outcomes.
Facebook?
Really?
Are you fucking nuts?
I feel like watching a bad episode of the Flintstones where Fred gets one of his stupid ideas.
What is this, the 1600s again, every citizen (within reason) has a RIGHT to vote, it's not a PRIVILEGE reserved for those not disenchanted/disenfranchised. People have the RIGHT to vote based on nothing of substance. Personally, I think every citizen has a RESPONSIBILITY to vote.
Voting gives people a chance to feel that they have the power to make a difference in who makes decisions ... and that makes all the difference because it holds the elected accountable. Low voter turnout suggests to the elected that they need only cater to a smaller portion of their constituents to be re-elected. Low voter turnout, and having an outdated two-party system with a similarly outdated electoral college, has caused a lot of problems with the policy of the US government. For example, having a few Pirate Party members in Senate/House would prevent a lot of the "copyright-based" complaints on ./
In the short term, go convince 'em to vote based on reasons or issues which *you* think are important.
I vote based upon what the Talk Radio hosts and the talking heads on Fox News tell me to do. After all, those people who make tens of millions of dollars a year by spewing half truths and lies obviously have my, the common man, best interests at heart.
We need lower taxes on the job creators! It has been working. The Bush Tax Cuts kept unemployment below 10%! Corporate profits are at record levels!
This bullshit about how my real wages and my standard of living being stagnate for decades is just Liberal bias.
The fact that I'm unemployed means that I'm just not worthy to be employed. You see, I'm only physically capable of working 50+ hours a week which just doesn't cut it anymore - especially in IT. That's why I can't get a job; I'm a wimp.
I also need to pray to Jesus harder. My faith just isn't strong enough and therefore God punishes us who don't have enough faith with no money. Being rich means you're being more Godly than thy neighbor - it says so in the Bible somewhere - Joel Osteen and Rich Warren say so!
I'm a free man in the World's greatest country! I can own a gun! I don't worry about the fact that the government can eavesdrop on all my electronic communications, that I have to be electronically strip searched to just fly within the US, and that all my financial transactions are monitored by the government because of the War on Terror, Drugs, Child Porn, etc ..... (Google OFAC about buying a car....).
Yep I'm free.
Every vote matters. Votes from lazy ones, indifferent ones, sadistic ones, anarchists, autistic ones, geeks, high IQ ones, low IQ ones, everything matters.
it's a good idea to let people on Facebook vote? These are the same people that think that pushing the Like button will help cure cancer or feed starving kids in Africa.
I was thinking the Simpsons, personally, since Homer's ideas are WAY worse than Fred's ever were. But we're on the same page, I think.
Meh.
I think every citizen has a RESPONSIBILITY to vote.
I don't think forcing people at gunpoint to throw a dart and select a random crook is the goal you were aiming for. Also voter intimidation for no candidate is only slightly less reprehensible than voter intimidation for a specific candidate.
Voting gives people a chance to feel that they have the power to make a difference in who makes decisions
Key word is "feel". No REAL impact. The aristocracy will select two of its own princes, as a prole you get to "feel" you can "make a difference" by selecting one crook or another. Maybe that'll "feeling" will stop you from rioting. If so its done its job of being the opiate of the masses.
You can probably learn a lot about your opposition by going to google and searching for "why I do not vote". A typical example and some tasty quotes, not the best, by far not the worst:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff224.html
"The Constitution has no legitimate authority over me. I have never signed off on it."
"I do not wish to endorse a system that has produced and continues to produce what I think are evil results"
"I get no psychological satisfaction from identifying myself with a party or candidate."
Now watch the haters descend with idiotic sophistry. I wonder how many logical fallacies we can find to oppose my/this viewpoint. "he sucks" "you suck" "everyone should have to follow my irrational belief because I say so even if at the point of a gun", etc. A real logical argument would be nice but I'm not expecting very much.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Logical_fallacies
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
"Facebook won't collect any of the personal information with which it interacts."
"Whoo-ee," said Crowley. "Where have you been?"
Chuck Norris: Socialism == a thousand years of darkness.
What is this, the 1600s again, every citizen (within reason) has a RIGHT to vote, it's not a PRIVILEGE reserved for those not disenchanted/disenfranchised. People have the RIGHT to vote based on nothing of substance. Personally, I think every citizen has a RESPONSIBILITY to vote.
Voting gives people a chance to feel that they have the power to make a difference in who makes decisions ... and that makes all the difference because it holds the elected accountable. Low voter turnout suggests to the elected that they need only cater to a smaller portion of their constituents to be re-elected. Low voter turnout, and having an outdated two-party system with a similarly outdated electoral college, has caused a lot of problems with the policy of the US government. For example, having a few Pirate Party members in Senate/House would prevent a lot of the "copyright-based" complaints on ./
So, when asked to explain WHY you believe one of your assumptions, you get combative, start SHOUTING, and start throwing up straw men?
Which means what? You don't know why you believe what you do?
that's how I treat people who don't stand behind their comments (i.e. AC)
Ok, so you say that having a few Pirate Party members would be a good thing for the US, how do you expect them to get elected? Look at the Libertarian Party, which has ~1% of the vote in a good portion of every election and is pretty much the largest third party in the US. Now with 1% of the vote, you'd expect 1 seat out of every 100 in a legislative body to have at least one Libertarian, but there isn't. The only legislative body in the US with a Libertarian is the RI house of representatives meaning the Libertarian party has 1 seat of 7916 available. At least that is better than the Green Party who is another contender to be the major third party (it has more registered voters but generally does poorer in elections) with 0 seats out of 7916.
Yes, I vote and I generally vote with a protest vote, its unlikely that most of my candidate choices (except in local elections) will ever get in. There are several times where I write in "None of the Above" (especially in local elections). But does voting change anything? No. It hasn't historically changed anything in the US and won't change anything in the future, its only benefit is you can pat yourself on the back when another Republocrat screws up the nation and say, well, I didn't vote for him...
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
for one, I can't tell if all comments are the same AC ... if you want to establish a discoruse, sign-in.
Communists, Nazi, Mossad, KGB, Facebook, Google+.
What else is there?
BTW, what is the name of the paranoia kings in China?
Every vote matters. Votes from lazy ones, indifferent ones, sadistic ones, anarchists, autistic ones, geeks, high IQ ones, low IQ ones, everything matters.
Nice tautology.
Doesn't even try to explain WHY having high voter turnout is good, though.
IMHO, every citizen has the responsibility to become educated about the choices and vote. I apologize as that's what I should have said at the beginning. It ensures that the you're doing your (minimal) part to keep the process running correctly.
It is infinitesimally small. And whatever infinitesimal amount there is won't be solved by tougher voter ID requirements.
People with valid id should be able to register and vote on the same day, right?
As I understand it, the waiting period after registering to vote serves the same purpose as the waiting period for buying certain kinds of deadly weapon: a criminal background check.
John Bigboote, John Careful Walker, John Chief Crier, John Coyote, John Fish, John Fledgling, John Guardian, John Icicle Boy, John Jones, John Kim Chi, John Littlejohn, John Many Jars, John Mud Head, John Nephew, John O'Connor, John Omar, John Parrot, John Rajeesh, John Ready to Fly, John Repeat Dance, John Smallberries, John Take Cover, John Thorny Stick, John Two Horns, John Whorfin, John Ya Ya . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Local elections are where you should be voting third-party. Why the apathy? Without local support, why would you expect anything to happen at the national level?
IMHO, every citizen has the responsibility to become educated about the choices and vote.
Congratulations, you've just brought treatment of mentally disabled back to roughly 1800. A system that throws my ancient great uncle into prison because he has Alzheimers therefore can't become educated and frankly probably can't physically vote is morally and ethically reprehensible... the civilization level of a culture can be defined by looking at how it treats its weakest members, and this "responsibility" would seem to be an immense step backwards in our civilization.
I ask again, what will you do to enforce your new found "responsibility"? Deport? Imprison? Drone strikes? Yes that's all extreme to provoke a reaction. But if we're no longer a free society, what will be the price charged to buy freedom from voting? Supposedly the propaganda is its horrifically immoral to make someone buy a $15 certified birth cert at the courthouse and a free ID card at the DMV in order to vote... I would guess that on the opposing side failure to vote "should" result in a similar $15 fine? Why do you hate the poor? In the same line of reasoning, should failure to vote be a felony? But where I live felons can't vote... So your "storyboard" is something like "x could have voted but didn't" "X marked as felon for life and fined $15" "X never able to vote again"? Should failure to vote in a federal election be a felony and a municipal election be a municipal citation, or ...
Responsibility without reward is otherwise known as slavery. What reward is being given in exchange to make it not-slavery? I argue its all a sham as a political statement and refuse to participate in slavery as a form of political speech. So which has higher priority when it inevitably goes to court, your weird enslavement or my political free speech "statement"?
Also its a traditional wedge issue. Why can't this small minority, just this one time, be forced at the barrel of a gun, to go along with the majority, who we think are doing the right thing anyway, is a philosophy that leads not just to mandatory voting but human rights abuses of all kinds. Sometimes there's a reason to do the wrong thing and go down the wrong road and tempt fate, if its worth it, if it really has to be done, maybe for national or personal survival. But for something as irrelevant with as little impact as voting?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
for one, I can't tell if all comments are the same AC ... if you want to establish a discoruse, sign-in.
So, you now add ad hominem to your logical failures?
Got it.
Got it. My bad. Won't let it happen again.
Facebook won't have access to the State's database, and Hamlin says Facebook won't collect any of the personal information with which it interacts
Wa ha ha ha ho ho hee hee hee, ahhh, [wipes tears of laughter from corner of eyes]
Wait... What? That was supposed to be a serious statement? Oh, crap.... Sorry.
This has been a test. If this had been an actual Sig, you would have been amused.
Just because you have the right to vote does not mean the government is obliged to drive you to the polls or provide absentee ballots. Just like how you have the right to free speech but that doesn't mean the government has the obligation to provide you with a microphone and an audience.
State sets itself up for lawsuit. News at 11!
I agree that I have the responsibility to become educated about the choices.
I do NOT agree that I have the responsibility to vote.
If no candidate is acceptable, then not voting is the correct thing to do.
And that's pretty much been true for the last four or five federal election cycles....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Did anyone else just have the gut wrenching feeling of a wasteland Earth after they read this? OR what has our world come too? OR WTF Mate^^?!
"That's right...I said it."
State officials?
"That's right...I said it."
1. You don't live in GA.
2. Lines are not six hours long.
3. You don't need that documentation to *renew*.
4. You are some East or West coast liberal who can't even find GA on the map, let alone has been there or spoken with anyone from there.
As far as I'm concerned, if you can't be bothered to register to vote in a timely manner then we don't need you voting.
Voting is a responsibility and it requires a bit more effort than sucking down a soda and munching on Cheetos on your front porch.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
"Withdrawing in disgust is not the same as apathy." -- Oblique Strategies
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
.....one can safely bet that it will work for D's (dead or alive) but not for R's.
Vietnam Veteran / Former Postal Worker -- Use Caution When Taunting!
You want people with Alzheimer's to vote?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
As I look down the barrel of (yet again) a choice between two corporate sponsored warmongers who are eager to bring the US totalitarianism, you have no fucking right to say that I should vote or that I have a choice. I refuse to vote for a murderer because it is blatantly immoral to do so = I don't get to vote.
The less people the vote = the less legitimate the system is.
All Facebook is doing is directing you to to the existing online voting registration system, and then transferring over your name and birthday. So an expansion of fraud on the part Facebook's involvement really isn't an issue here. The issue here is the norm of Facebook and other companies from data mining citizen's voting habits.
This is just a continuation of what we've seen regarding Google/FB. More and more concentration of data in fewer and fewer hands. It seems with each passing day FB becomes more of a "portal" for everything, and the sad/scary thing here is that the American populace is more than happy to acquiesce, without really thinking about the consequences.
Whats next: apply for Drivers Licenses, Passports, Loan Applications, etc via FB?
I don't have a FB account for several reasons, however two come to mind:
1. When someone told me "you have to be on Facebook".
2. When I started seeing the FB logo everywhere, including on the brand of yogurt I buy.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
No one is can be forced to vote, but they can be forced to attend.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/opinion/article/Compulsory-voting-means-ignoring-Election-Day-is-1160329.php
What makes you believe the government/society should be enforcing responsibilities at the point of a gun? It used to be that they were mostly "enforced" by simple societal pressures, ie general disdain for the behavior.
Voting in Washington is done by mail (at least in King county), nobody's voting by Facebook. You can probably do the same thing on a Washington State website (my own registration predates teh interwebz, so I don't know). Now you can send them your physical address via Facebook too. It's not really much different than going to whatever government building and wait in line to give some uncaring beureucrat your address there.
But FACEBOOK therefore EVIL... Yadda yadda yadda.
Zombie: "Hi, you called my number. I lost my license because I was doing 65 in a 25, but it wasn't my fault because I was almost out of liquor and the store closes at midnight. But I really need to get my license back because the liquor store near my house charges too much and I'm almost out of money, and if I run out of money I'll run out of liquor."
DMV: "Sir, your number is H376. The number we called is J."
Zombie: "But H is a lower number than J in the alphabet."
DMV: "Not at the DMV. The numbers go in whatever order the TV says they do. Please go sit down and we'll call you soon."
Zombie: "Really? You'll call me soon? Because I'm in a hurry."
DMV: "I don't know if it will be soon. I just do what the TV tells me."
(And we're back)... In fact, 72% of people visiting the DMV feel "strongly" that they could run it better than the idiots running the state, and if they could replace the idiots running the state, they would never have to ensure this again. Ergo, they are more likely to register to vote.
I assume Washington found that the DMV route wasn't working for them because the DMV experience is not as awful in Washington as it is here (there just aren't that many people, and that's really the key to a crummy DMV experience), so the closest approximation they could find was Facebook. This still incorporates the lack of choice and masses of brain dead people, but they're able to use technology to import them from the rest of the world.
Now Facebook can serve you personally tailored ads based on you political leanings.
..and, likely, alert Government watchdog agencies to the presence of anyone who registers as anything other than "Republican" or "Democrat".
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
What is this, the 1600s again, every citizen (within reason) has a RIGHT to vote, it's not a PRIVILEGE reserved for those not disenchanted/disenfranchised. People have the RIGHT to vote based on nothing of substance. Personally, I think every citizen has a RESPONSIBILITY to vote.
Voting gives people a chance to feel that they have the power to make a difference in who makes decisions ... and that makes all the difference because it holds the elected accountable. Low voter turnout suggests to the elected that they need only cater to a smaller portion of their constituents to be re-elected. Low voter turnout, and having an outdated two-party system with a similarly outdated electoral college, has caused a lot of problems with the policy of the US government. For example, having a few Pirate Party members in Senate/House would prevent a lot of the "copyright-based" complaints on ./
Actually, the Founding Fathers understood a simple truth- most people are stupid and agnostic of the political process, and can't be trusted to choose their own leader. That's why the Electoral College was created, and that's why Senators were originally chosen by State Legislatures. Only the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, was chosen by the people. Over time these safeguards against the stupidity of the masses have been eroded so that politicians who benefit from the ignorance of their constituents can win elections.
The quality of comments on this thread is significantly degraded from what I expect of the Slashdot community. The actual process being followed here is that WA has created a web application to allow voter registration. Just a web application. They are then using oauth to allow people with facebook accounts to use the information from their facebook accounts on their site. This is NOT "on facebook" at all. Facebook never touches any data that they don't already have. In fact, this is really a non-issue and should be supported by a group of technology enthusiasts that the Slashdot community used to consist of.
I'm sorry your knees are all jerking.
IMHO, every citizen has the responsibility to become educated about the choices and vote.
As the subject says, what do you feel about voter ID laws that many states are trying to pass? I'm of the same opinion as what I quoted, which is why so few of the arguments against Voter ID requirements ring hollow to me. If someone can't take the time to educate themselves or get a free ID (and yes we need to ensure that it is possible to get an ID free of charge) then how can they be expected to make an informed vote? The reason the media wagon for campaigns is so large is because of the number of voters out there who only get their information that way.
If you live in King County (Seattle area), you should check with their web site to see if your vote was counted:
https://info.kingcounty.gov/elections/BallotTracker.aspx
I've lived in this county for five years, and my vote hasn't counted a single time. So far I've found more than two dozen friends and coworkers that had votes that didn't count. If you don't vote Democrat, the odds are very good in this area that your vote will be thrown in the trash.
Facebook sold all the data that I entered into my Facebook profile after I made it as private as possible to scam site Mylife.com. Now that data is available to anyone and Mylife.com is more likely to fraudulently charge my credit cards than take down the info if I contact them.
There is no way I would want any sort of Facebook-government integration.
This is another end-run around laws against calling people on telephones for political reasons.
If you do business with Facebook (you are by registering to vote through them), anyone that does business with Facebook (every SuperPAC out there) can now call you legally. The people calling now also have access to party affiliation information because many states require you to register under party affiliation.
I live in Washington state and can tell you that political phone solicitations are a big factor here--with our "Initiative" process it is far easier for corporations to directly introduce legislation and phone solicitation is the primary means by which they promote their "Initiatives". CostCo just spent over $25 million dollars getting an initiative passed that passed control of liquor sales from the state to the private sector--much of that money was spent on call-center services.
Anyone else find it interesting that Mark Zuckerberg was born in 1984?
Sam Reed, our state election commissar, has long since gone full tilt retard. Unsatisfied with the difficulty of rigging optical scanner elections, he was trying to go the Diebold route. He couldn't handle the criticism from Bev Harris though, so he switched everything to vote by mail. Now entire boxes of mail go missing.