[LINK] Fwd: vip-l: Electronic votiing

[Craig Sanders]

On Tue, Nov 14, 2006 at 12:15:44AM -0800, David Goldstein wrote:
> For all the idiotic and paranoid comments on the issue of enabling
> people who are blind and vision impaired people to have access to
> electronic voting, 

it is blinkered and short-sighted - one might say deliberately blind -
to consider only the needs of a very small minority, to grant them much
greater importance than the rights of all.


> it has been blindness agencies such as Vision Australia that have been
> advocating for electronic voting for people who are blind and vision
> impaired.

yes, and how much money has been donated to them by those companies
pushing for e-voting machines? they're being used by those with their
own agenda.


> It's about the right to privacy. As has been said, a person who is
> blind cannot vote independently. And people on this list may be happy
> to delegate to someone else to complete a ballot paper, but there are
> many people with a vision impairment who are not.

it's NOT just about the right to privacy. it's also about the right of
all australians to a fair, secure, and difficult to tamper with voting
process.

> This is a great and hard won victory for those who advocate for
> equality for people who are blind and vision impaired.

the problem is the price of this "great and hard won victory". are you
better off with being able to vote privately if your vote (and everyone
else's) can be untracably tampered with by a single programmer?

the rights of the blind are NOT the only thing at stake here. neither
are they the most important factor. far from it. they are, to put it
bluntly, utterly insignificant compared to the security of voting for
everyone - blind or not.


craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>           (part time cyborg)