E-voting predicament: Not-so-secret ballots

TalkBack 2 of 7:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Secret voting is civics 101

Without secret voting, democracy is fundamentally impossible.

The votes we, the public, cast must be secret for the same reason that the votes of your Congressperson need to be public: when your voting record is known, you can be punished for voting "the wrong way."

That is the way it is supposed to be for a Congressperson; Congresspeople work for us, and if they don't vote the right way, we can vote them out.

But if the government was able to determine your vote, they could do the same thing: punish you for voting the wrong way.

That was what happened during the "elections" in East Germany, the Soviet Union, Iraq, and many other places, and non-secret voting is the reason that, for instance, Saddam was routinely reelected with 99% majorities.

There are also less obvious ways a non-secret ballot can be abused. Imagine a party paying every voter $100 as long as they can prove they voted for their candidate.

Also, "know only with your consent" is not enough. The government already routinely exempts itself from such consent requirements (warrantless wiretaps, anyone). It must be fundamentally impossible to find out who cast any particular vote.

Voting for a board of directors? That's not a truly democratic election for various reasons. Public voting is less of a problem there.

Posted by: sdgeek   Posted on: 08/20/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Virtualization: Architectural Considerations And Other Evaluation Criteria VMware Of the many approaches to x86 systems virtualization available in the ... Download Now
• Three Steps You Need to Know to Stop Data Loss Varonis Sensitive data exposed to misuse or loss... it is the stuff of nightmares ... Download Now
• Five Steps to Determine When to Virtualize YourServers VMware Server virtualization isn't just for big companies. Entry-level ... Download Now