FW: [LINK] Fwd: vip-l: Electronic votiing

[Daniel Rose]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: link-bounces at anumail0.anu.edu.au 
> [mailto:link-bounces at anumail0.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of David Goldstein
> Posted At: Sunday, 19 November 2006 13:17 PM
> Posted To: Link List
> Conversation: [LINK] Fwd: vip-l: Electronic votiing
> Subject: Re: [LINK] Fwd: vip-l: Electronic votiing
> 
> 
> Again Craig Sanders demonstrates he has no idea what he's 
> talking about. As it says on the HREOC website, "The 
> Disability Discrimination Act makes it against the law to 
> treat you unfairly because of your disability." By not 
> enabling a person who is blind to vote independently is a 
> clear case of discrimination. Further, "Direct disability 
> discrimination happens when a person with a disability is 
> treated less favourably than a person without the disability 
> would be treated in the same or similar circumstances. It 
> would be direct disability discrimination if you were refused 
> entry to a nightclub because you have a disability and use a 
> wheelchair but people who did not use a wheelchair were still 
> being allowed into the club."

No no, you should link to the law, not to text on a website, which
carries no legal clout whatsoever.

Quote the section (para) part of which law that you believe is being
broken.


> And then "Discrimination also happens when there is a 
> requirement or condition or practice that is the same for 
> everyone but has an unfair effect on a particular group of 
> people. This is known as indirect discrimination."

Sighted people voting does not have an unfair effect on the blind.


> So I would imagine the Australian Electoral Commission is in 
> breach of the Disability Discrimination Act. See 
> http://hreoc.gov.au/complaints_information/guides/info_sheet_dda.html

Which section of the act are you referring to?

The nightclub is not required to provide the wheelchair.  Why should the
electoral office provide the equipment?  Will groups such as yours fund
the machines required?

Will we be required to provide cars which blind people may drive
unassisted? In what way is this different? Certainly the ability to
drive independently is much more liberating than that of voting.

As for e-voting being inevitable, I don't think that word means what you
think it means.  Basically, just because we think we can do something is
not reason enough for doing so.  When we can feed a starving african for
a dollar a day, why spend many tens of millions on this?