4 ms·
> Why can’t we just count votes by hand? It works well, is hard to cheat, and there's no money in it?
by logifail 7y ago
> Why can’t we just count votes by hand?
It works well, is hard to cheat, and there's no money in it?
- thomk 7y agoIt seems like it would be much, much easier to cheat, no? Yes a few people have to be in on it, but if the history of American politics has shown us anything; that's doable.
- moomin 7y agoIt's actually really hard, because the ballots are kept and can be verified by the voters. Keeping a full paper trail is a great protection against fraud.
- mstade 7y agoNot to mention the sheer amount of people you have to convince if you want to have any meaningful impact. And not just to cheat, but also keep quiet about it lest you get caught. What's that old Ben Franklin quote, three people can keep a secret but only if two of them are dead?
- vidanay 7y agoIt's also really easy to verify in parallel. Two or three separate reporters per jurisdiction phone in to physically separate tabulating centers, tabulating centers cross-check and verify at the end.
- mhh__ 7y agoIt's worked in the UK for centuries
- A4ET8a8uTh0 7y agoI think you nailed it. The only real argument against it is that you have to pay people to pay by hand, but I sincerely doubt that amount of manual labor costs more than an app.
- Loughla 7y agoMy guess is most places would have volunteers out the ying-yang to count ballots.