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Question: Are there (m)any people other than those involved in the manufacture and sales of voting machines, or their lobbyists, that support increased automati

Question: Are there (m)any people other than those involved in the manufacture and sales of voting machines, or their lobbyists, that support increased automation in the voting process? I'm absolutely, 100% happy with putting a pencil mark onto a paper ballot, which I fold and place into a box (with people watching), which is later taken (with people watching) to a counting place, emptied out on a table (with people watching), and counted by hand by volunteers (with yet more people watching).

bilbo0s 8y ago
Finally. REASON! Now this guy has the right idea. Why are people trying to fix something that is not broken?
- jjgreen 8y ago
  A good question which could also be asked of 30% of HN articles
simias 8y ago
I'm with you on that but I was surprised to find out during the last Brazilian election that they seem to do most of their voting on electronic machines and it seems well accepted over there. At least when I mentioned that to Brazilian colleagues they seemed fine with it. This video (in Portuguese) shows a "tear down" endorsed by the manufacturer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wrMLzqgKEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wrMLzqgKEI Both the tone of the video (unsurprisingly, given its "officially endorsed" nature) but also the comments seem overall pretty positive. Even though they mention that the software is closed source and you basically have to trust the manufacturer (and any third parties making hardware and software for the device along the way).
Freak_NL 8y ago
Politicians, political parties, and governments (from local to national). For some reason the lure of instant results is so great that every year there is some place in the world where electronic voting is once again strongly pushed for, even though none of the arguments against it are suitably addressed. Is it a mindset thing? A disdain for an analogue process that they deem outmoded? A lack of understanding of the inherent problems with automatization for this particular task? All I know is that it takes a lot of effort to keep elections free from voting machines. This is a global phenomenon by the way.
PhasmaFelis 8y ago
For the average person, it probably seems weird that you can buy groceries online but you have to go to a place with a special machine to vote. Online voting seems like an obvious win, if you don't realize how fragile online security is.
lukifer 8y ago
Pen and paper is the objectively superior technology for the job; it's the Minimum Viable Product that is auditable by the most number of people. You shouldn't need to be a crypto expert to be able to confirm that your vote was counted. Public trust should be an explicit design goal, and arguably the most important one.

bilbo0s 8y ago

Finally. REASON! Now this guy has the right idea. Why are people trying to fix something that is not broken?

jjgreen 8y ago
A good question which could also be asked of 30% of HN articles

simias 8y ago

I'm with you on that but I was surprised to find out during the last Brazilian election that they seem to do most of their voting on electronic machines and it seems well accepted over there. At least when I mentioned that to Brazilian colleagues they seemed fine with it. This video (in Portuguese) shows a "tear down" endorsed by the manufacturer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wrMLzqgKEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wrMLzqgKEI Both the tone of the video (unsurprisingly, given its "officially endorsed" nature) but also the comments seem overall pretty positive. Even though they mention that the software is closed source and you basically have to trust the manufacturer (and any third parties making hardware and software for the device along the way).

Freak_NL 8y ago

Politicians, political parties, and governments (from local to national). For some reason the lure of instant results is so great that every year there is some place in the world where electronic voting is once again strongly pushed for, even though none of the arguments against it are suitably addressed. Is it a mindset thing? A disdain for an analogue process that they deem outmoded? A lack of understanding of the inherent problems with automatization for this particular task? All I know is that it takes a lot of effort to keep elections free from voting machines. This is a global phenomenon by the way.

PhasmaFelis 8y ago

For the average person, it probably seems weird that you can buy groceries online but you have to go to a place with a special machine to vote. Online voting seems like an obvious win, if you don't realize how fragile online security is.

lukifer 8y ago

Pen and paper is the objectively superior technology for the job; it's the Minimum Viable Product that is auditable by the most number of people. You shouldn't need to be a crypto expert to be able to confirm that your vote was counted. Public trust should be an explicit design goal, and arguably the most important one.