5 ms·

Use the post office. Use paper ballots in the mail. Many security issues vanish if polling places are no longer rich targets. In my state of residence, my ballo

Use the post office. Use paper ballots in the mail. Many security issues vanish if polling places are no longer rich targets. In my state of residence, my ballot is sent in the mail, and I get SMS notifications when it is sent to me and when it is counted.

airstrike 7y ago
You never know if it's counted correctly, though, so it sounds like the auditing challenge remains
- hedora 7y ago
  They could ensure correct delivery (but not necessarily counting) by MMSing a picture of the ballot, but then you can sell your vote.
- debatem1 7y ago
  We have a system where you can go and see a webpage say your vote was counted after you mail in your ballot. What you can't do is tell if that webpage is accurate. This still feels like a tractable problem in the domain of pure crypto if you divide it into a commitment scheme and a tabulation step.
conductr 7y ago
I like the idea of snail mailing a PIN number for an online system. But I’m a layman on the security issues that complicate what seems easy, is it the MITM risk of anything over a wire?
- ISL 7y ago
  Or compromising the central server. Some things are worth extra effort to do in a ponderous, slow, and fault-tolerant way.
ufo 7y ago
Voting by mail introduces many extra problems. 1) Now the post office is a rich target 2) The voter doesn't see with their own eyes that their ballot has been deposited. They have to trust the SMS message. 3) It is more vulnerable to vote coercion. Family members, employers or organized crime might force you to show them your ballot before its submitted.
- jjwhitaker 7y ago
  Oregon and other states have a documented history of nonissue with this system, especially compared to existing systems in Georgia or NC. Vote by mail is incredibly successful in getting people to vote securely. It's those who wish to decrease turnout or ability to vote who fight such successful systems. There is a liberal majority that votes democrat, not republican. Guess which states make it easier to vote and have a voice in our democracy? It isn't the red ones.
  - ufo 7y ago
    Yes, I agree with you that the additional convenience leads can help with turnout, which is a specially important thing these days. However, here in Brazil I am convinced that vote-by-mail would only exacerbate the widespread vote-coercion problems we already have in areas that are dominated by drug traffickers or paramilitary groups. (While we are at it, there are lots of other factors other than vote-by-mail that affect voter turnout and voter disenfranchisement. Certainly one of the biggest ones is that the US elections do not take place on a national holiday, and that there can be a lot of bureaucracy involved in registering as a voter)

airstrike 7y ago

You never know if it's counted correctly, though, so it sounds like the auditing challenge remains

hedora 7y ago
They could ensure correct delivery (but not necessarily counting) by MMSing a picture of the ballot, but then you can sell your vote.
debatem1 7y ago
We have a system where you can go and see a webpage say your vote was counted after you mail in your ballot. What you can't do is tell if that webpage is accurate. This still feels like a tractable problem in the domain of pure crypto if you divide it into a commitment scheme and a tabulation step.

conductr 7y ago

I like the idea of snail mailing a PIN number for an online system. But I’m a layman on the security issues that complicate what seems easy, is it the MITM risk of anything over a wire?

ISL 7y ago
Or compromising the central server. Some things are worth extra effort to do in a ponderous, slow, and fault-tolerant way.

ufo 7y ago

Voting by mail introduces many extra problems. 1) Now the post office is a rich target 2) The voter doesn't see with their own eyes that their ballot has been deposited. They have to trust the SMS message. 3) It is more vulnerable to vote coercion. Family members, employers or organized crime might force you to show them your ballot before its submitted.

jjwhitaker 7y ago
Oregon and other states have a documented history of nonissue with this system, especially compared to existing systems in Georgia or NC. Vote by mail is incredibly successful in getting people to vote securely. It's those who wish to decrease turnout or ability to vote who fight such successful systems. There is a liberal majority that votes democrat, not republican. Guess which states make it easier to vote and have a voice in our democracy? It isn't the red ones.
- ufo 7y ago
  Yes, I agree with you that the additional convenience leads can help with turnout, which is a specially important thing these days. However, here in Brazil I am convinced that vote-by-mail would only exacerbate the widespread vote-coercion problems we already have in areas that are dominated by drug traffickers or paramilitary groups. (While we are at it, there are lots of other factors other than vote-by-mail that affect voter turnout and voter disenfranchisement. Certainly one of the biggest ones is that the US elections do not take place on a national holiday, and that there can be a lot of bureaucracy involved in registering as a voter)