Why can't we vote online?

[Flyingphil172]

Every election I'm always thinking the same thing.

Why is it that we can order pizza, pay bills, transfer money, book flights, buy & sell shares, lodge tax returns etc etc online, but when election time comes, we all have to go trudging down to the local primary school, fill out a bunch of paperwork with a pencil and dump it in a cardboard box - of which is later emptied and each vote manually counted in what must be a fairly labour intensive exercise.

[Seamus]

I think that's a fair question,and it may only be a matter of time.

Security is not an issue;I have never once been asked for proof of identity when voting. (I first voted in 1969).

I can see no practical reason for not allowing voting on line. It could actually reduce fraudulent voting. (EG use of id codes which would only work once)

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

It would definitely be a good idea to use HTTPS as well for the voting. Otherwise we may have some fundies who would love to tap into the system and modify everybody's votes (man in the middle attack)

[Loki]

I also think online voting would be nice and convenient, though after thinking about it I can see good reason to maintain the status quo.

One thing our present system does provide which the internet cannot is a neutral venue for the actual casting of the vote.

By that I mean that when you actually enter the polling booth noone can physically stand over you and influence your vote (or your decision not to vote if that is your choice).

I'm thinking about mobs like the extrusive bretheren. Not that that particular mob vote (too wordly for them) but there are plenty of vested interests like them. It would be fairly easy for many of these groups to take control of peoples votes.

Places like retirement villages would likewise present oportunities to those who might like to influence the vote, or usurp votes, for whatever reason.

Undue influence is lessened when the actual vote is taken in private, and carefully scrutinized privacy at that.

It's only one point, but it does provide transparency. The one thing elections don't need is any hint that the mechanics are not transparent in any way.

[Praxis]

I'm sure we will have it one day but I'm content for the current system to stand. There's too many ifs and buts and potential for rigging/hacking/influence from others, etc I think.

My 2c.

[davo]

sms votes ... 0.55 cents per call (more if using a mobile)

1800 ABBOTT
1800 GILLARD
...etc


the finals will be at parliament house, 8 rounds in the cage.

[Spud Henley]

Maybe they should use computers at the very least in the polling stations to eliminate paper. Just click the radio button and a file will be saved to eliminate the need for paper. If that works why not internet voting?

[KeithW]

I would have thought the easiest way to vote would be through the Tattslotto outlets. It would not be hard to re-programme the terminals either. We would have none of this waiting weeks for a result, as soon as the polls finished you would know the result. Yes there would need to be a manual count but it would only be a formality.

Little old ladies could not complain about how small the voting boxes are either, I mean they use them all the time for Lotto.

Security would also not be an issue, if the baddies cannot rig a $50 million lottery jackpot they certainly can't rig a poxy election.

Everyone's a winner.

[Xeno]

Good thinking, KeithW. In the same vein I propose they could also use TABs, funded by a betting licence on the result, saving us money on election costs. Back in the Tatts, there could be scratchie prizes on the back of your voting ticket and a jackpot on the winning candidate and margin. No more problems encouraging people to vote. :cool:

[davo]

USA have been trying this, there is problems in any system of this scale. The short of it is there is a lot of problems that are to be overcome first, but it's on the cards of course.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting#Documented_problems

[Dane]

4chan. This is why we can't have nice things.

[Jez]

4chan. This is why we can't have nice things.

Hate to go off topic, but not all of 4chan is /b/, ever been on the /lit/ boards? Turns out that inteligence and 4chan are not mutally exclusive...

[davo]

Hate to go off topic, but not all of 4chan is /b/, ever been on the /lit/ boards? Turns out that inteligence and 4chan are not mutally exclusive...

In some cases ;) it tends to balance out lol

But yea there are clever folk on there from all walks of life

http://assassaindolphin.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/epicfail.jpg

[Bradley]

I'm a massive nerd and cheerleader for the ways in which technology has improved many aspects of life, but any kind of electronic voting is a bad idea and I hope it never happens. If it was up to me I'd make pencil-and-paper voting part of the Constitution and ensure that we never, ever move away from it.

Sure, pencil-and-paper voting is very slow and labor-intensive, but a pencil will never break down, contract a virus, get hacked into or alter the results of an election. If a pencil does suffer catastrophic system failure (i.e., snappage), troubleshooting the problem takes no more effort than grabbing another pencil from the box.

Also, I don't know if I'd trust any Government to complete a roll-out that big without fucking it up somehow. We've seen how bad Australian Governments tend to be about this kind of thing. There are a lot of horror stories from the United States about electronic voting, although to be fair they took the boneheaded step of contracting the system out to private companies. But even if the Government tried to do it itself (unlikely considering the PPP fetishism happening lately) I wouldn't expect they'd do it well.

Although having said all that, I do think that rural residents and Australians abroad may benefit from not having to rely on the postal voting system. But even then, making sure a networked system is secure is very, very difficult and expensive.

[heresy]

i voted electronically in ... 2001 or 2002 I think..
the AEC were trailing it in Canberra at the time..
Still managed to do a donkey vote, for the heck of it

" Are you sure you want to submit an informal vote " YES | NO

i clicked yes and away we go.. informal electronic votes....
have no idea what happened to that program..

[Logic please]

sms votes ... 0.55 cents per call (more if using a mobile)

1800 ABBOTT
1800 GILLARD
...etc


the finals will be at parliament house, 8 rounds in the cage.

...press "1" to evict, press "2" to save ;)

Fear not people, the Australian Electoral Commission is looking at joining the 21st century.... LINK (http://www.aec.gov.au/pdf/voting/E-voting_report.pdf)

Looks like some form of e-voting is coming.... :)

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

I'm a massive nerd and cheerleader for the ways in which technology has improved many aspects of life, but any kind of electronic voting is a bad idea and I hope it never happens. If it was up to me I'd make pencil-and-paper voting part of the Constitution and ensure that we never, ever move away from it.

Sure, pencil-and-paper voting is very slow and labor-intensive, but a pencil will never break down, contract a virus, get hacked into or alter the results of an election. If a pencil does suffer catastrophic system failure (i.e., snappage), troubleshooting the problem takes no more effort than grabbing another pencil from the box.

Also, I don't know if I'd trust any Government to complete a roll-out that big without fucking it up somehow. We've seen how bad Australian Governments tend to be about this kind of thing. There are a lot of horror stories from the United States about electronic voting, although to be fair they took the boneheaded step of contracting the system out to private companies. But even if the Government tried to do it itself (unlikely considering the PPP fetishism happening lately) I wouldn't expect they'd do it well.

Although having said all that, I do think that rural residents and Australians abroad may benefit from not having to rely on the postal voting system. But even then, making sure a networked system is secure is very, very difficult and expensive.+1

Especially also given that it is possible that there is an error with the form/code/etc or a glitch in the voting, probably not a good idea.