For the first 100 or so years, voting in the US was open ballot. The only reason it changed was because there was a civil war. Corruption and vote fraud was much less with an open ballot, and so long as you aren't in a situation with armed insurrection, is clearly superior to the secret ballot.
Once we go back to open ballots, fraud will drop, and online voting fraud will become irrelevant as well.
There are provably secure cyptographic methods to ensure that no one can figure out who you voted for, and that you can check, after the election, that your vote was counted appropriately. These systems even include a method for providing a faked screenshot to be sold to vote buyers. The fact that almost no one uses these systems is the real problem.
Really? Noone can figure out who you voted for and you can ensure your vote was counted properly? I thought it was one or the other.
Care to point me in the right direction?
Most of the voting systems by David Chaum. I assume others' systems as well. All of these systems work by similar methods. One common trick is that if N numbers are XOR'ed together, then any number can only be revealed by again XOR'ing with the other N-1. So your vote can be XOR'ed with something that hides the actual vote, but the combination of the two can be checked from a list. There are other methods as well. I would explain it all, but I am not a cryptographer.
There are other methods as well. I would explain it all, but I am not a cryptographer.
And that is the problem. To actually verify that these systems work as they claim you need PhD in cryptography which means 99.99% of the voters are left out in the cold. Plus having a working theory is one thing, letting voters make sure on election day that the implementation is not buggy and does not leak your votes to third-parties via a side-channel is another entirely [youtube.com].
Laymen cannot audit this system, nor is the process of assuring anonymity and an accurate count transparent or comprehensible to laymen. That means they cannot trust this system... which is kind of an important aspect of a ballot.
Laymen cannot audit this system, nor is the process of assuring anonymity and an accurate count transparent or comprehensible to laymen. That means they cannot trust this system... which is kind of an important aspect of a ballot.
In California I make inkspots on a piece of paper, then it is fed into a big machine. I get s sticker that says, "I voted!" Is that better?
Laymen cannot build a modern car or airplane or understand how it works, which means they cannot trust this system...
Same goes for the power grid, and the Internet, and pharmaceuticals.
Sooner or later, we're going to have to trust the concept of trusting a reputation based web of trust. We can't personally understand MOST of the technology that supports our modern lives.
Laymen cannot build a modern car or airplane or understand how it works, which means they cannot trust this system...
That's irrelevant. The interests of the people who build the cars are aligned with those of the people who use them, and if that proves not to be the case then there are liability laws that ensure that you can be compensated if your car is not built to spec. In contrast, the interests of small subsets of the population are typically not directly aligned with the rest when choosing a government.
In the UK, our elections run by putting a cross on a piece of paper, which then goes into a box. The boxes ar
Laymen cannot build a modern car or airplane or understand how it works, which means they cannot trust this system...
If cars or airplanes of a specific make keep crashing laymen are going to know pretty quick and will buy from its competitors. Same thing for the power grid, and the Internet, and pharmaceuticals.
But if done well, laymen would not know that the election was stolen. And it's not like you can go to the competition. Not only has the government a monopoly on elections, you cannot even escape whatever decisions it takes (no moving abroad is a not an option for most people).
Will Internet Voting Endanger The Secret Ballot? (Score:-1)
No.
Is there any other questions??
Re: (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes.
Computer based voting of any kind is a bad idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3_0x6oaDmI
ARE there any other questions?
Re: (Score:3)
Once we go back to open ballots, fraud will drop, and online voting fraud will become irrelevant as well.
Re: Will Internet Voting Endanger The Secret Ballo (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Care to point me in the right direction?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Really? Noone can figure out who you voted for and you can ensure your vote was counted properly? I thought it was one or the other. Care to point me in the right direction?
Most of the voting systems by David Chaum. I assume others' systems as well. All of these systems work by similar methods. One common trick is that if N numbers are XOR'ed together, then any number can only be revealed by again XOR'ing with the other N-1. So your vote can be XOR'ed with something that hides the actual vote, but the combination of the two can be checked from a list. There are other methods as well. I would explain it all, but I am not a cryptographer.
Re: (Score:2)
There are other methods as well. I would explain it all, but I am not a cryptographer.
And that is the problem. To actually verify that these systems work as they claim you need PhD in cryptography which means 99.99% of the voters are left out in the cold. Plus having a working theory is one thing, letting voters make sure on election day that the implementation is not buggy and does not leak your votes to third-parties via a side-channel is another entirely [youtube.com].
Re: Will Internet Voting Endanger The Secret Ballo (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Laymen cannot audit this system, nor is the process of assuring anonymity and an accurate count transparent or comprehensible to laymen. That means they cannot trust this system... which is kind of an important aspect of a ballot.
In California I make inkspots on a piece of paper, then it is fed into a big machine. I get s sticker that says, "I voted!" Is that better?
Re: (Score:2)
Is your piece of paper kept so that it can be counted again in case of problems? If so, that's a lot better than any purely electronic voting system.
Re: (Score:3)
Laymen cannot build a modern car or airplane or understand how it works, which means they cannot trust this system...
Same goes for the power grid, and the Internet, and pharmaceuticals.
Sooner or later, we're going to have to trust the concept of trusting a reputation based web of trust. We can't personally understand MOST of the technology that supports our modern lives.
Re: (Score:2)
Laymen cannot build a modern car or airplane or understand how it works, which means they cannot trust this system...
That's irrelevant. The interests of the people who build the cars are aligned with those of the people who use them, and if that proves not to be the case then there are liability laws that ensure that you can be compensated if your car is not built to spec. In contrast, the interests of small subsets of the population are typically not directly aligned with the rest when choosing a government.
In the UK, our elections run by putting a cross on a piece of paper, which then goes into a box. The boxes ar
Re: (Score:2)
Laymen cannot build a modern car or airplane or understand how it works, which means they cannot trust this system...
If cars or airplanes of a specific make keep crashing laymen are going to know pretty quick and will buy from its competitors. Same thing for the power grid, and the Internet, and pharmaceuticals.
But if done well, laymen would not know that the election was stolen. And it's not like you can go to the competition. Not only has the government a monopoly on elections, you cannot even escape whatever decisions it takes (no moving abroad is a not an option for most people).