5 ms·
While I agree that voting with paper ballots is prone to errors, I argue the errors are of the type that can be detected by observation. Manipulation at scale t
by lolc 8y ago
While I agree that voting with paper ballots is prone to errors, I argue the errors are of the type that can be detected by observation. Manipulation at scale takes many conspirators and can be detected just by watching the process. You know you can't trust a vote when the watchers complain they couldn't monitor the ballot boxes at all time.
In electronic voting, you just have to trust the machine to do it right. There are multiple layers of manipulation available that are hard to detect. Sure, the bar is higher, but so are the opportunities for doctoring by the involved actors. What are the watchers to do? They simply can't watch the ballot box when it's inside a machine where no single human can fully understand its machinations.
- Klathmon 8y agoTo expand on this, "verification" or "observation" of paper voting can be done by just about anyone. Young or old, natives or transplants, left or right, comp sci majors or the high school dropout, just about anyone can count along and watch a box to make sure nobody is stuffing tons of ballots in there. That's what makes it so powerful. If you think some conspiracy is happening by "the other side", you can go down and watch for yourself, or you can gather a hundred other people to watch with you.
- iguy 8y agoExactly. The goal isn't just to minimise the number of errors, it's to minimise the estimated number of errors among the most conspiracy-prone 10% of your fellow citizens. The validity of the vote is something which resides in their heads.
- visarga 8y agoIt is possible to create an encrypted log of all votes, each vote encrypted with a different key. Voters would receive a decryption key printed on a slip of paper at the voting booth. Later on they could check to see if their vote was correctly counted.
- howard941 8y agoCan this procedure confirm that the machine properly recorded my preferences, reported them to the central tabulator, and that the tabulator included my ballot choices in the final counts?
- im3w1l 8y agoThere are two cases. Either you can prove to other people what you voted for. And then they can extort you. Or you can't and then you how can you prove you were cheated? And if we think one more step, hostile government can start rumors of distortions and no one can know. There is an out. If no single person can prove their vote but people in aggregate can.