Question of the Week due 9/5/08

Question of the Week due 9/5/08
Background: When voters go to the polls in November, computer based polling machines will be used in many locales. However, there are concerns about using them. Some say the voting machines can be hacked, and the wrong person may win because fake votes are counted. With paper votes, the tallies may be counted and re-counted. However, with computer voting machines, there is no way to verify the vote was tallied correctly after the voter leaves the booth. There are lots of concerns that cheating may occur undetected or that voters may become confused in using the machines. Here are some links with more info:

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-10/2007-10-29-voa37.cfm?CFID=32113069&CFTOKEN=30382750

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5890

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/20/ING2976LG61.DTL

http://uscountvotes.org/ucvAnalysis/US/2008Election/SwingStatesSusceptible2008.pdf

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E4D6153FF937A15754C0A9659C8B63

http://brilliantfixer.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/voting-by-cell-phone-may-be-possible-in-2009/

Question(s) of the Week
What do you think could be done to ensure computer voting is safe and truly reflects how voters voted? Would you advocate going back to paper ballots everywhere in the USA? What do you see as the future of computer based voting? Right now, voters go to a polling place to cast their ballots. What if voters could use cell phones to cast ballots. What if, for example, ICA students could elect class and ASB officers using cell phones? What might be some of the safety, as well as convenience, issues?

posted by Debra at 10:52 AM | 0 comments