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“A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

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Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#81

Post by TylerE »

holtalanm wrote: post #74
athenot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving voting day from a Tuesday to a Sunday would also make a big difference. There are many people who have have informed opinions but can't afford to take off work (write-up for being late to work/take off early, lost income, transport issues). Also that would avoid removing a school day since most public schools are used for polling. Another option would be to switch to make mail-in ballots only.

Well, for one, employers are legally REQUIRED to allow their employees time off to vote. At least I thought that was the case. Please correct me if I am wrong.

State by state. Many do not. In most where it is offered the time is limited (2 hours typically), which with long lines and travel time may not be enough. It is also unpaid time.

Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#82

Post by tempay »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #69
lb1lf wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and it doesn't address one of the key issues with votes being cast in places other than a booth in a polling station where you are alone: Coercion. What's to stop a family member (OK, not much of an issue for overseas military personnel, one would think) or another person from hovering just outside the camera's capture area with a blunt object, ready to -ahem- influence your vote? Granted, this would only affect i…

> What's to stop a family member...[from] influenc[ing] your vote? This is also a problem with mail-in ballots. (It’s why I believe early votes should be allowed to be overwritten by in-person votes.) The issue with smartphone voting with selfie verification is almost everyone’s phones contain selfies. (Americans overseas are also likely to have a photo ID on their camera roll.) So controlling the phone means control…

> It’s why I believe early votes should be allowed to be overwritten by in-person votes.

It's an interesting idea, though how would you maintain the secret ballot? If you ask them to make a "negative vote" they can suddenly vote three times without any chance of being caught.

Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#83

Post by optimuspaul »

calvinbhai wrote: post #65
RankingMember wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in favor of ditching Columbus day and replacing it with November 6th as a national holiday for that reason.

why not rename Columbus day into something like "we seek forgiveness" day? how does it make sense to have November 6th as a holiday in a country where more than 50% people don't/can't vote?

Some have already renamed Columbus Day, they call it "Indigenous Peoples Day"

Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#84

Post by throwawaylolx »

mosselman wrote: post #71

Voting is a solved problem: fill in some box on paper. What is automating it ever going to solve?

Increasing participation? I won't drive out of my way and queue somewhere to vote. Sure, many people think the solution to this is shaming me for not caring enough about democracy, but it is obviously not working. If it were easy and safe to vote from my phone, I may be more inclined to vote.

Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#85

Post by maxerickson »

toyg wrote: post #68
acdha wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My $.10 proposal: change Veterans Day to be the 2nd Tuesday in November. Almost no cost, there's a strong “they served so you would have this right” angle, and it'd pair naturally with other civic events.

With all due respect, ideologically linking the military and democracy is a horrifically bad idea. The two systems embody completely opposite concepts.

I would like to know more.

Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#86

Post by [deleted] »

aalleavitch wrote: post #18
sidlls wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've got it backwards: people don't vote for a number of reasons. Many don't because elitists in politics constantly tell them they're too stupid or ignorant to know what's good for them, lecture about civic duty, and ignore the very real problems they have in their lives. Ignoring the real problems that exist in registering or getting to the polls doesn't help.

There are also concerted voter suppression campaigns against certain groups who may be unlikely to vote for a particular candidate.

[deleted]

Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#87

Post by maxerickson »

TylerE wrote: post #81
holtalanm wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, for one, employers are legally REQUIRED to allow their employees time off to vote. At least I thought that was the case. Please correct me if I am wrong.

State by state. Many do not. In most where it is offered the time is limited (2 hours typically), which with long lines and travel time may not be enough. It is also unpaid time.

I live in a tiny precinct and thus lack perspective, but the wait time is pretty solvable by spending money.

Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#89

Post by CWuestefeld »

king07828 wrote: post #58
zanny wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big part of the problem I feel is choice fatigue. Its by design that when you go to vote in a US election you are often voting for sometimes 20 or more different positions, and because of the sheer quantity of people you are supposed to audit this way it becomes impossible to thoroughly investigate all your choices if each one takes an hour of research. You can't ask your average citizen to spend 20+ hours in advan…

Alternatively, make each elected office require a man and a woman to be independently elected to that office. Have the decision making power split equally between the two 50-50 so that both must agree before taking action (e.g., signing or vetoing bills, or casting votes for bills). Each political party would provide both a male candidate and a female candidate for each office.

Why a man and a woman? How about a tall person and a short person, or a religious person and an atheist, or a white person and a black person (but what about other races?), and so forth? What is sacred about men versus women, especially since we're told that there's no actual difference between men and women?

Re: “A Horrifically Bad Idea”: Smartphone Voting Is Coming

#90

Post by forgottenpass »

calvinbhai wrote: post #65
RankingMember wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in favor of ditching Columbus day and replacing it with November 6th as a national holiday for that reason.

why not rename Columbus day into something like "we seek forgiveness" day? how does it make sense to have November 6th as a holiday in a country where more than 50% people don't/can't vote?

Might as well go whole-hog and call it "Repent, Sinner. Repent!" day.
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