Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
1–10 of 197 posts
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#2In related news, Saudi Arabia hacked Bezos' phone: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22122779
Could a similar hack be done on a larger scale, and used to alter votes before they are sent, without changing the electronic signature?
Lets assume no until proven otherwise. And if proven otherwise, lets assume it was an isolated incident, and it won't happen again after a "commitment to do better".
Lets also assume Mr. Tusk's firm can be trusted - after all, why not put a private middle-man between voters and elections? As Mr. Tusk correctly points out, the only plausible explanation to resistance is wanting to suppress voters.
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#3Making a big case about voter turnout not being as great as other countries is a red herring. We have it really, really good in this country. So good that, practically speaking, it doesn't matter who gets elected because things will continue to stay good. I read low voter turnout as an implicit vote of confidence in the system as a whole. You can be sure that if [stuff] was actually hitting the fan then everyone would show up to vote (and try to vote twice) to fix the horrible mess the city/state/country is in (whether in reality or perception).
While I would agree there are definite issues with security, I really don't like the "print out the digital ballots" idea would rather see something block-chain based which is public and easy to audit.
And I think it's unavoidable that some sort of biometric or other proof of identity will be required (take a selfie in order to vote!) before "voting with your phone" become commonly accepted.
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#4Making a big case about voter turnout not being as great as other countries is a red herring. We have it really, really good in this country. So good that, practically speaking, it doesn't matter who gets elected because things will continue to stay good. I read low voter turnout as an implicit vote of confidence in the system as a whole. You can be sure that if [stuff] was actually hitting the fan then everyone woul…
Turnout can also be improved by voting on Sundays instead of work days. Yet they skipped that step and went right for electronic voting, that's nearly unanimously opposed by experts.
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#5Making a big case about voter turnout not being as great as other countries is a red herring. We have it really, really good in this country. So good that, practically speaking, it doesn't matter who gets elected because things will continue to stay good. I read low voter turnout as an implicit vote of confidence in the system as a whole. You can be sure that if [stuff] was actually hitting the fan then everyone woul…
> I read low voter turnout as an implicit vote of confidence in the system as a whole.
So, then the folks in Sweden and Denmark are voting because they lack confidence in their government, whereas in Estonia and Latvia, all is fine?
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#6Making a big case about voter turnout not being as great as other countries is a red herring. We have it really, really good in this country. So good that, practically speaking, it doesn't matter who gets elected because things will continue to stay good. I read low voter turnout as an implicit vote of confidence in the system as a whole. You can be sure that if [stuff] was actually hitting the fan then everyone woul…
Turnout can also be improved by voting on Sundays instead of work days. Yet they skipped that step and went right for electronic voting, that's nearly unanimously opposed by experts.
Even better: 11 day window for voting window, starting on a Friday and ending on a Monday. Two full weekends to vote, no excuses for not being able to make it. Some states already do this with "early voting" which starts up to two weeks before the actual election day.
And if you could pre-print your completed ballot to be scanned (once your identity if verified per local requirements) then the process could be very, very fast and efficient.
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#7It sounded like a really silly verification system. Matching finger signatures on a smartphone with previous records?
Perhaps the voters should get a set of one-time codes along with a PIN from the voting office, and use that to validate their vote.
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Turnout can also be improved by voting on Sundays instead of work days. Yet they skipped that step and went right for electronic voting, that's nearly unanimously opposed by experts.
Even better: 11 day window for voting window, starting on a Friday and ending on a Monday. Two full weekends to vote, no excuses for not being able to make it. Some states already do this with "early voting" which starts up to two weeks before the actual election day. And if you could pre-print your completed ballot to be scanned (once your identity if verified per local requirements) then the process could be very,…
> And if you could pre-print your completed ballot
Your printer will betray you by printing invisible identifying dots on your ballot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#9This is for a voluntary county board position without regulatory power that by statute needs to be elected by March when no one is paying attention. So someone decided to try this out.
OTOH, the WA Sec. of State opposes mobile/online elections due to security concerns, as does her upcoming political opponent [1] and FWIW the Seattle Times recently wrote an Editorial also opposing the practice. [2]
Bottom line, this hardly constitutes some trend that WA state is moving towards, just something set up by a county office that is otherwise drawing skepticism.
[1] https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/secretary...
[2] https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/resist-push-...
Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election
#10> King County voters will be able to use their name and birthdate to log in to a Web portal through the Internet browser on their phones, says Bryan Finney, the CEO of Democracy Live, the Seattle-based voting company providing the technology.
Oh, really?
> Once voters have completed their ballots, they must verify their submissions and then submit a signature on the touch screen of their device.
Huh?
> Finney says election officials in Washington are adept at signature verification because the state votes entirely by mail. ...
Finney must have never had to sign on a phone screen with a finger while driving before.
All of this digital theater of the absurd in a desperate attempt to engage people in the political process:
> The board of supervisors election in the King Conservation District, for example, in past years has drawn less than 1% of the eligible population to the ballot box.
People don't vote because they don't care. Not because they can't make it to the poling place. They don't care because they don't see anything at stake.
There's no app for that.