4 ms·

Want people to participate in local elections? Stop federalizing politics.

cwbrandsma 10y ago
That is no match for the general population's apathy. Seriously, "you can lead a horse to water" applies pretty strongly here.
- redwards510 10y ago
  I firmly believe if voting were made as easy and satisfying as hitting a "Like" button, we would have astronomical "turnout" rates. However, I can't get over two problems with that. The ease of hacking and the failure of our democracy to create secure, open-source digital voting (see: Diebold) and the inability to prevent vote-stealing. Think about if on voting day, your employer demanded to use your phone to cast a vote using your account or you'd be fired.
  - JoshTriplett 10y ago
    > The ease of hacking and the failure of our democracy to create secure, open-source digital voting (see: Diebold) and the inability to prevent vote-stealing. For the former, we could have verifiable votes: you get a anonymous token, and can look up your vote on a public register by that token. The only problem with that approach is that it makes voter coercion (forcing someone to vote a given way) somewhat easier. However, many states already allow absentee ballots, and some (such as Oregon) do all voting by mail with no "polling booth" option, which has exactly the same property. So, personally, I'd suggest entirely electronic voting, verifiable votes via anonymous tokens, public lists of votes (so anyone can re-run the voting algorithm to check the result), and strong laws against voter coercion (so that employer you mentioned would get prosecuted).
deelowe 10y ago
Local governments severely lack the funding and resources needed to engage with the community like they should. It's really sad, but by the time the fed and state take their cut, there's not much left for the city or county.
- carsongross 10y ago
  That's exactly right. When I'm God Emperor Dictator, we invert the taxation rates at the federal and local levels.
- sidlls 10y ago
  It's not like the federal and state governments dictate taxation and revenue (entirely), take their cut and leave the rest with local governments. Local governments can raise revenue with various kinds of taxes independently of rates and schedules at the Federal or State level. The real reason local governments typically lack resources for truly local needs is that the most vocal locals tend to be NIMBY typea and anti-tax types.
  - deelowe 10y ago
    You've clearly never worked in local government if you think it's that easy.
  - deelowe 10y ago
    You've clearly never worked in local government if you think it's that easy.

That is no match for the general population's apathy. Seriously, "you can lead a horse to water" applies pretty strongly here.

redwards510 10y ago
I firmly believe if voting were made as easy and satisfying as hitting a "Like" button, we would have astronomical "turnout" rates. However, I can't get over two problems with that. The ease of hacking and the failure of our democracy to create secure, open-source digital voting (see: Diebold) and the inability to prevent vote-stealing. Think about if on voting day, your employer demanded to use your phone to cast a vote using your account or you'd be fired.
- JoshTriplett 10y ago
  > The ease of hacking and the failure of our democracy to create secure, open-source digital voting (see: Diebold) and the inability to prevent vote-stealing. For the former, we could have verifiable votes: you get a anonymous token, and can look up your vote on a public register by that token. The only problem with that approach is that it makes voter coercion (forcing someone to vote a given way) somewhat easier. However, many states already allow absentee ballots, and some (such as Oregon) do all voting by mail with no "polling booth" option, which has exactly the same property. So, personally, I'd suggest entirely electronic voting, verifiable votes via anonymous tokens, public lists of votes (so anyone can re-run the voting algorithm to check the result), and strong laws against voter coercion (so that employer you mentioned would get prosecuted).

deelowe 10y ago

Local governments severely lack the funding and resources needed to engage with the community like they should. It's really sad, but by the time the fed and state take their cut, there's not much left for the city or county.

carsongross 10y ago
That's exactly right. When I'm God Emperor Dictator, we invert the taxation rates at the federal and local levels.
sidlls 10y ago
It's not like the federal and state governments dictate taxation and revenue (entirely), take their cut and leave the rest with local governments. Local governments can raise revenue with various kinds of taxes independently of rates and schedules at the Federal or State level. The real reason local governments typically lack resources for truly local needs is that the most vocal locals tend to be NIMBY typea and anti-tax types.
- deelowe 10y ago
  You've clearly never worked in local government if you think it's that easy.
- deelowe 10y ago
  You've clearly never worked in local government if you think it's that easy.