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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: November 04, 2002 Scrutiny of High-Tech Voting System -- "But voter unfamiliarity with the machines also dogged the Broward balloting and could again. County officials are bracing for long lines and the likelihood polls will have to stay open hours late."(Comments: Do other countries use computerized voting machines? Do they suck?)
Reader Comments...
Brazil recently did. They too had long lines and late hours, however in their case they had an awfully complex bunch of elections all at the one time. It wasn't simply voting for one position. Posted by: Eric Scheid on November 5, 2002 12:15 AM
A report from the analog world: I live in a suburb of Chicago called Vernon Hills. Today, when I went to the local community center to vote, I was surprised to be handed a pen along with the ballot. Instead of the old "pins" that were used to punch the ballot (and thus produce the famous chads), our municipality switched to Scantron! As I was given instructions on how to fill in the oval completely (and to make your mark dark), I couldn't help but feel like I was back in high school again. This is how we took tests! *laughs* The only electronic part about the process came at the end. After I had finished voting, I was instructed to put the ballot into a big gray electronic box. It whirred for about ten seconds and then some LEDs lit up green. I was told that the machine had just instantly read and tabulated my votes. If I had not filled the ballot correctly, it would have produced red lights and I would have had the chance to vote again. The most telling statement came from a young man who accompanied his mother. As she was puzzling over the ballot, the little boy said, "Mommy, wouldn't it be easier if this was on the Web?" He couldn't have been more than eight years old and he couldn't have been more right.
I think web voting would be a disaster. Can you imagine the security, privacy, auditing, and accountability issues? For a good article on problems with electronic voting check out Salon:
Just wondering. Did any HF types get contracted to work on the design or test any voting machines? Posted by: Nevermind on November 5, 2002 01:09 PM
I am as pro-Internet as anyone I know, yet I do believe that moving our voting process to the Web would be a huge mistake. We already have immoral folks trying to tamper with the results and I believe we'd be making it far easier for them. A portion of each party's funds would be allocated to Internet Strategy (or something) while hackers and security experts were hired to tilt the balance. Posted by: boysen on November 5, 2002 01:34 PM
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