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Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

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Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

#21

Post by flareback »

deogeo wrote: post #2

In 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.…

This doesn't even need hacking. You just go on facebook and find someones name and birthday and vote as them.

Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

#22

Post by awb »

sornaensis wrote: post #14
aazaa wrote: post #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 el…

Wholeheartedly disagree-- if casting a ballot was as easy as sending a text instead of receiving and then mailing a letter or going to a polling location, I would predict much higher participation. People don't see it worth their time because a single vote really isn't worth anyone's time. Votes only matter as groups! So obviously you have to make it as braindead simple to vote as we have made everything else. What I…

> People don't see it worth their time because a single vote really isn't worth anyone's time.

If someone has that worldview I'm OK with them not voting.

I'm not sure that X% more participation would improve our collective decision making. In essence we'd be diluting the vote of those who care the most with those who think voting by mail is too hard.

Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

#23

Post by slipheen »

Beyond the security implications (which are huge and ought to be a deal breaker on their own), this seems to have a huge problem in that it's not private.

Your abusive spouse/boss/dealer could tell you that they want to see you use the app to vote their way, and there's not much to prevent it.

While going to a local precinct is inconvenient, no one knows what you do once you walk in that booth. That's important to avoid coercion.

Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

#24

Post by all2 »

netsharc wrote: post #13
aazaa wrote: post #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 el…

"Finney must have never had to sign on a phone screen with a finger while driving before." Why the "while driving" bit? Your argument was solid until you added these 2 words. Now you're saying "If it doesn't work while I'm busy operating a motor vehicle, I'm against it!"

It is a common (though illegal) use case, so definitely worth considering as a worst case scenario.

Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

#27

Post by coolspot »

joshuaheard wrote: post #25

I don't understand why a bank's website is secure enough to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I can't cast a single vote online.

Because casting votes online makes it easy to start voting market where you get perks for voting in desired direction.

Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

#28

Post by ssully »

deogeo wrote: post #4
mikece wrote: post #3

Making 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.

Just make it a national holiday

Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

#29

Post by wearenotsafe »

awb wrote: post #22
sornaensis wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wholeheartedly disagree-- if casting a ballot was as easy as sending a text instead of receiving and then mailing a letter or going to a polling location, I would predict much higher participation. People don't see it worth their time because a single vote really isn't worth anyone's time. Votes only matter as groups! So obviously you have to make it as braindead simple to vote as we have made everything else. What I…

> People don't see it worth their time because a single vote really isn't worth anyone's time. If someone has that worldview I'm OK with them not voting. I'm not sure that X% more participation would improve our collective decision making. In essence we'd be diluting the vote of those who care the most with those who think voting by mail is too hard.

More importantly, we're diluting the gene pool by allowing stupid people to procreate. Let's stop this thing at the source.

Re: Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in district election

#30

Post by lukifer »

slipheen wrote: post #23

Beyond the security implications (which are huge and ought to be a deal breaker on their own), this seems to have a huge problem in that it's not private. Your abusive spouse/boss/dealer could tell you that they want to see you use the app to vote their way, and there's not much to prevent it. While going to a local precinct is inconvenient, no one knows what you do once you walk in that booth. That's important to av…

While I'm in total agreement, and think that this is likely a bad idea, doesn't the same problem exist with mail-in voting? An abusive party can hover over your shoulder while filling it out, and then walk you to the mailbox.
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