5 ms·

Why on earth is it publicly available? Something like that could be abused pretty easily. I guess it lets non-voters verify that no one has stolen their vote, b

Why on earth is it publicly available? Something like that could be abused pretty easily. I guess it lets non-voters verify that no one has stolen their vote, but still..

tester756 4y ago
Many things could be "abused pretty easily" but are they actually abused?
daemoens 4y ago
I can't think of anyway on the spot of how this could be abused. They still don't know who you voted for, just that you voted. Are there any common abuses of this data?
- arealaccount 4y ago
  Some of us don’t want to support any of the people on the ballot. Being forced to write down support for an entity that you don’t want is a psychological hack. Now you can’t just tell the “vote or die people” that you already voted to get them off your back.
  - bawolff 4y ago
    You can just spoil your ballot.
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    Just don’t enroll in a political party. Political people want to turn out votes for them. In states with a closed primary that has some blowback. Where I grew up, the Republican primary was the election. Where I live now, the Democratic primary is the election - the only GOP candidates are clowns with no organization.
    - thehoff 4y ago
      I haven't enrolled in a party and I get probably 6-12 a day now (from both sides).
  - gus_massa 4y ago
    Isn't it possible to put an empty ballot? We use envelopes here to hide the ballot from the people in charge of the voting slot. We can put an empty envelope, or with ballots of two different parties that make it void, or with a nasty letter about the policianos, or like in Brazil where they "elected" a rhino for major https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacareco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacareco
    - bobbylarrybobby 4y ago
      Yes, you can definitely cast an empty ballot (at least in New York).
- mancerayder 4y ago
  Sold to ad tech agencies who can match it with whatever other information about you they already have. It's a binary yes, no, so maybe abuse is too strong a word. There's limited use.
idlewords 4y ago
The voting system is a complicated balance between keeping your individual vote secret and making as much of the process transparent and public as possible. This kind of information being public is likely a check against ballot stuffing.
- williamcotton 4y ago
  There's a near universal knee-jerk reaction to public accountability that is going to be the end of this republic...
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
smitty1e 4y ago
In Virginia, the pollbook isn't secret, and technically any observer can challenge anyone showing up and trying to obtain a ballot. This hasn't happened in my 10yrs of working as an election officer, but still.
- djbusby 4y ago
  You still doing that? Would love to peek at your blog. Edit: from your KeyBase to Twitter to https://theothermccain.com/ https://theothermccain.com/
  - smitty1e 4y ago
    "That" being an Election Officer? Yes, I'm supporting Tuesday. The actual blog isn't something I contribute to frequently anymore. (a) Working on the PhD thesis proposal, and (b) haven't had much to add to the conversation lately. Everyone who can legally vote on Tuesday should, though.
daemoens 4y ago
I can't think of anyway on the spot of how this could be abused. They still don't know who you voted for. Are there any common abuses of this data?
- MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
  Not being in the business of voter suppression, I couldn't tell you anything authoritatively. But if I was, I'd use the data to find who has a spotty or non-perfect record with the hypothesis that they're more susceptible to suppression methods than someone with a near perfect record. Then the next step would be targeting locations that lean towards one party or using a combination of retargeting ads +obvious party selectors to run a BS phone or ad campaigns that disenfranchise or provide misleading information. Like this. Which was a real thing that happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_federal_election_voter_suppression_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_federal_election...
  - itsdrewmiller 4y ago
    That same data is also used by other people to encourage those people to vote - I'm sure on a much larger scale than disenfranchisement efforts.
- nmeagent 4y ago
  "I know you'll probably vote for $foo. If I check after the election and find that you did|didn't vote, bad thing $bar might just happen to your friends and family." Edit: It's probably not a particularly good threat, but it could maybe be used to suppress certain targeted demographic groups that tend to vote one way or the other.
  - Analemma_ 4y ago
    This seems like a pretty ludicrous threat to make. You could just submit a blank ballot or vote for the opposing party and your hostage-taker would have no way of knowing.
Analemma_ 4y ago
Having public "who voted" records which can be compared against other public residency data is a transparency countermeasure against ballot fraud.
Spooky23 4y ago
FOIA laws. Voting integrity depends on transparency.
blarg1 4y ago
I wonder if someone could check who hasn't voted and send in mail in votes for those people?
Fatnino 4y ago
Or just have mandatory voting. You need to prove that you turned in a ballot when you pay your taxes if you incur so e penalties. Don't care who you vote for. Turn in a blank ballot, doesn't matter. But you MUST turn in a ballot.

Why on earth is it publicly available? Something like that could be abused pretty easily. I guess it lets non-voters verify that no one has stolen their vote, but still..

tester756 4y ago

Many things could be "abused pretty easily" but are they actually abused?

daemoens 4y ago

I can't think of anyway on the spot of how this could be abused. They still don't know who you voted for, just that you voted. Are there any common abuses of this data?

arealaccount 4y ago
Some of us don’t want to support any of the people on the ballot. Being forced to write down support for an entity that you don’t want is a psychological hack. Now you can’t just tell the “vote or die people” that you already voted to get them off your back.
- bawolff 4y ago
  You can just spoil your ballot.
- Spooky23 4y ago
  Just don’t enroll in a political party. Political people want to turn out votes for them. In states with a closed primary that has some blowback. Where I grew up, the Republican primary was the election. Where I live now, the Democratic primary is the election - the only GOP candidates are clowns with no organization.
  - thehoff 4y ago
    I haven't enrolled in a party and I get probably 6-12 a day now (from both sides).
- gus_massa 4y ago
  Isn't it possible to put an empty ballot? We use envelopes here to hide the ballot from the people in charge of the voting slot. We can put an empty envelope, or with ballots of two different parties that make it void, or with a nasty letter about the policianos, or like in Brazil where they "elected" a rhino for major https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacareco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacareco
  - bobbylarrybobby 4y ago
    Yes, you can definitely cast an empty ballot (at least in New York).
mancerayder 4y ago
Sold to ad tech agencies who can match it with whatever other information about you they already have. It's a binary yes, no, so maybe abuse is too strong a word. There's limited use.

idlewords 4y ago

The voting system is a complicated balance between keeping your individual vote secret and making as much of the process transparent and public as possible. This kind of information being public is likely a check against ballot stuffing.

williamcotton 4y ago
There's a near universal knee-jerk reaction to public accountability that is going to be the end of this republic...
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

smitty1e 4y ago

In Virginia, the pollbook isn't secret, and technically any observer can challenge anyone showing up and trying to obtain a ballot. This hasn't happened in my 10yrs of working as an election officer, but still.

djbusby 4y ago
You still doing that? Would love to peek at your blog. Edit: from your KeyBase to Twitter to https://theothermccain.com/ https://theothermccain.com/
- smitty1e 4y ago
  "That" being an Election Officer? Yes, I'm supporting Tuesday. The actual blog isn't something I contribute to frequently anymore. (a) Working on the PhD thesis proposal, and (b) haven't had much to add to the conversation lately. Everyone who can legally vote on Tuesday should, though.

daemoens 4y ago

I can't think of anyway on the spot of how this could be abused. They still don't know who you voted for. Are there any common abuses of this data?

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
Not being in the business of voter suppression, I couldn't tell you anything authoritatively. But if I was, I'd use the data to find who has a spotty or non-perfect record with the hypothesis that they're more susceptible to suppression methods than someone with a near perfect record. Then the next step would be targeting locations that lean towards one party or using a combination of retargeting ads +obvious party selectors to run a BS phone or ad campaigns that disenfranchise or provide misleading information. Like this. Which was a real thing that happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_federal_election_voter_suppression_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_federal_election...
- itsdrewmiller 4y ago
  That same data is also used by other people to encourage those people to vote - I'm sure on a much larger scale than disenfranchisement efforts.
nmeagent 4y ago
"I know you'll probably vote for $foo. If I check after the election and find that you did|didn't vote, bad thing $bar might just happen to your friends and family." Edit: It's probably not a particularly good threat, but it could maybe be used to suppress certain targeted demographic groups that tend to vote one way or the other.
- Analemma_ 4y ago
  This seems like a pretty ludicrous threat to make. You could just submit a blank ballot or vote for the opposing party and your hostage-taker would have no way of knowing.

Analemma_ 4y ago

Having public "who voted" records which can be compared against other public residency data is a transparency countermeasure against ballot fraud.

Spooky23 4y ago

FOIA laws. Voting integrity depends on transparency.

blarg1 4y ago

I wonder if someone could check who hasn't voted and send in mail in votes for those people?

Fatnino 4y ago

Or just have mandatory voting. You need to prove that you turned in a ballot when you pay your taxes if you incur so e penalties. Don't care who you vote for. Turn in a blank ballot, doesn't matter. But you MUST turn in a ballot.