[LINK] Why Electronic Voting?

[Stewart Fist]

Kim writes
> If we had a completely electronic system of voting we could trust and
> that would give us near instantaneous voting results, our society
> could become much closer to a real democracy.  The question then is:
> is that the way we want to go?

I think you'd have to ask Michael Rimmer.  He became prime minister of Great
Britain by promoting personal-participatory democracy.  He also became
dictator of Great Britain in the same way. ('The Rise and Rise of Michael
Rimmer' - Peter Cook)

I think there is perhaps a place for participatory democracy in some
strictly-limited areas of policy, but if you look at the success and
failures of the Proposition system in California, the damage done to some of
the State's institutions has largely offsets any value they may have had in
other ways.

The winner of any participatory democracy race is the media and media
moguls.  These messengers are the only ones who can exert enough influence
over voters to determine the winners and losers.

Well-funded corporations supported by advertising-hungry media will win
every time.  And they often hide behind (supposedly) concerned
citizen's-rights groups, which are backed in secret by professional
lobbyists and corporate funding.

I had the same concerns over the idea of the popular elections of a
President in the Republic debate.   It would have been won by Alan Jones or
John Laws, funded by Kerry Packer or Rupert Murdoch (or both).

-- 
Stewart Fist, writer, journalist, film-maker
70 Middle Harbour Road, LINDFIELD, 2070, NSW, Australia
Ph +61 (2) 9416 7458