2 ms·

I doubt this. Don't some developed countries have mail voting? I am pretty sure Australia does, for one.

somenameforme 3y ago
Australia's relatively unique in that they have compulsory voting. This helps remove some of the threat vectors, like voter impersonation. You can't just find an inactive voter and turn in papers on his behalf. But in spite of this built in protection they also have numerous other safeguards. You read about them here [1]. They include, but are not limited to: - Needing to request a ballot, and including a security question/answer. The security answer will be cross referenced when returned to avoid somebody filling out a mail-in ballot that was not their own. - One must already be enrolled to vote (which implies ID verification) when requesting a ballot, and the ballot request also requires knowledge of the address used to register to vote, though the ballot itself can be sent to another address for e.g. expats or whatever. - When filling out the ballot, you are also required to have a witness sign it, affirming that it was you who filled it out. And that witness must be on the electoral roll. It's definitely not perfect, but it's vastly better than what we have. And targeting some reasonable fears like impersonation, harvesting, and so on. And I think that effort to target these fears is, in reality, just as important as whether or not it even does, or if those fears are even justified. Because, again it's all about perception. Anything they can be done to help increase the perception of transparency and security in elections, without meaningfully encumbering the process, should be done. [1] - https://www.aec.gov.au/about_aec/Publications/easy-read/files/vote-mail-easy-eng.pdf https://www.aec.gov.au/about_aec/Publications/easy-read/file...
- pandaman 3y ago
  Indeed, the Australian system is pretty good, and would be nice to have even without compulsory voting. But I am extremely skeptical we will ever get voter IDs in the US, least verifying voter registrations. One party is extremely opposed to any ballot security measures. Makes one wonder why is it so...
thephyber 3y ago
Yes. 14 countries in Europe allow mail-in voting for domestic residents[1] and almost all G7 countries support mail-in voting for citizens abroad. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/04/trumps-assertion-that-only-two-european-nations-allow-mail-in-voting/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/04/trumps-as...

Australia's relatively unique in that they have compulsory voting. This helps remove some of the threat vectors, like voter impersonation. You can't just find an inactive voter and turn in papers on his behalf. But in spite of this built in protection they also have numerous other safeguards. You read about them here [1]. They include, but are not limited to: - Needing to request a ballot, and including a security question/answer. The security answer will be cross referenced when returned to avoid somebody filling out a mail-in ballot that was not their own. - One must already be enrolled to vote (which implies ID verification) when requesting a ballot, and the ballot request also requires knowledge of the address used to register to vote, though the ballot itself can be sent to another address for e.g. expats or whatever. - When filling out the ballot, you are also required to have a witness sign it, affirming that it was you who filled it out. And that witness must be on the electoral roll. It's definitely not perfect, but it's vastly better than what we have. And targeting some reasonable fears like impersonation, harvesting, and so on. And I think that effort to target these fears is, in reality, just as important as whether or not it even does, or if those fears are even justified. Because, again it's all about perception. Anything they can be done to help increase the perception of transparency and security in elections, without meaningfully encumbering the process, should be done. [1] - https://www.aec.gov.au/about_aec/Publications/easy-read/files/vote-mail-easy-eng.pdf https://www.aec.gov.au/about_aec/Publications/easy-read/file...

pandaman 3y ago
Indeed, the Australian system is pretty good, and would be nice to have even without compulsory voting. But I am extremely skeptical we will ever get voter IDs in the US, least verifying voter registrations. One party is extremely opposed to any ballot security measures. Makes one wonder why is it so...

thephyber 3y ago

Yes. 14 countries in Europe allow mail-in voting for domestic residents[1] and almost all G7 countries support mail-in voting for citizens abroad. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/04/trumps-assertion-that-only-two-european-nations-allow-mail-in-voting/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/04/trumps-as...