The HN consensus seems to be that digital voting is very difficult to do right. I trust the consensus opinion, but this also makes me sad. The bigger picture that I think we’re missing here is the opportunity for huge-scale direct democracy. I know the usual debates against DD, but I think there’s ways to safeguard against those problems. E.g. you can’t vote on an issue without hearing both sides of it and passing a test that demonstrates that you understand the pros and cons of each side. Idealistic, I know, but I’m a firm believer that most people act more responsibly when you give them more responsibility.
Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
41–50 of 207 posts
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Elections are held on Tuesday as a way of restricting who can vote PERIOD. Poorer voters have a harder time getting off work, and getting transportation to voting site, which is usually close to their home, but not their work.
Seems simple enough to just make it a national holiday.
I can't believe it's not either a national holiday or an accepted thing for all employers to give the day off. I know legally they have to give you an hour to vote, but the entire day sends a message that this is an important thing for you to do.
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#43I don't understand these headlines. "After More Than A Decade of Vulnerable Voting Machines, US Still Uses Those Same Voting Machines" would be more accurate.
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why are elections not held on Sundays ? I assume that on average there are less people working that day that Monday - Friday, so less people would have to take time off from their job. Edit: Found this > In 1845, the United States Congress chose a single date for all national elections in all states. The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November was chosen so that there would never be more than 34 days between…
Elections are held on Tuesday as a way of restricting who can vote PERIOD. Poorer voters have a harder time getting off work, and getting transportation to voting site, which is usually close to their home, but not their work.
The law required you be given enough time off to vote, or you be given advance notice to get an absentee ballot if they won't be close to home.
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Elections are held on Tuesday as a way of restricting who can vote PERIOD. Poorer voters have a harder time getting off work, and getting transportation to voting site, which is usually close to their home, but not their work.
Seems simple enough to just make it a national holiday.
People work on national holidays, though.
I assume there is some correlation between people who are unlikely to receive paid time off for voting and people that have to work on unusual days, so I'm not sure changing what day Election Day falls on will fix anything.
The solution is to mandate that employers give you a couple of paid hours off on Election Day. I would be surprised if this was not already the case in several states.
States can also help out by keeping the polls open for longer hours, so that someone who has to work an 8 hour shift has plenty of time on either side of their workday to go vote. (Last primary, I forgot in the morning, then worked late... and still had plenty of time to vote after work. The same is not true in every state.)
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Elections are held on Tuesday as a way of restricting who can vote PERIOD. Poorer voters have a harder time getting off work, and getting transportation to voting site, which is usually close to their home, but not their work.
Seems simple enough to just make it a national holiday.
That doesn't help low income folks who work service jobs that don't get the same holidays. I feel like that would just make the middle-upper income vote that much more loud.
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#47With all of this discussion in Washington about Russian hacking and Russian voter influencing, why are these demonstrably vulnerable voting machines hardly mentioned? It would seem to me this should be a number one priority to prevent outside interference.
The short unhappy answer seems to be that the parties are happy with a corruptible voting system.
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#48I work for the municipality of Skanderborg, Denmark. We have what we call digital elections, but what’s digitized is the registration process. Basically every adult gets a voting card with their information + a barcode, we scan those barcodes when they turn up to receive their ballot(is that the right word for voting list?), and then they are registered. The actual voting takes place on paper, and while it takes time…
I trust good digital voting systems more than a paper ballot.
Specifically, the system should be auditable in a way that makes it difficult to trace individual votes back to voters, but allows individual voters to verify that their votes are counted correctly.
There must be a good way to accomplish this while also addressing potential voter fraud. Does anybody know of any research in this area?
With paper ballots, I have no way of knowing whether or not my vote was counted correctly. And I find that really unsettling.
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#49The HN consensus seems to be that digital voting is very difficult to do right. I trust the consensus opinion, but this also makes me sad. The bigger picture that I think we’re missing here is the opportunity for huge-scale direct democracy. I know the usual debates against DD, but I think there’s ways to safeguard against those problems. E.g. you can’t vote on an issue without hearing both sides of it and passing a…
>a test that demonstrates that you understand the pros and cons of each side
Then you just moved the controversial part of the process back to what the pros and cons are, or another step further still to who decides what the pros and cons are.
Re: Voting Machine Used in Half of U.S. Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds
#50The HN consensus seems to be that digital voting is very difficult to do right. I trust the consensus opinion, but this also makes me sad. The bigger picture that I think we’re missing here is the opportunity for huge-scale direct democracy. I know the usual debates against DD, but I think there’s ways to safeguard against those problems. E.g. you can’t vote on an issue without hearing both sides of it and passing a…
>I’m a firm believer that most people act more responsibly when you give them more responsibility.
Honestly, I believe the literal opposite. People act irrationally if they believe it's in their own self-interest.
What leads to to think that way? I'm genuinely curious.