[LINK] Blind voter demands secret vote

[Karl Auer]

On Fri, 2007-08-24 at 00:51 -0700, David Goldstein wrote:
> So the answer to Richard's concerns below is to work for a solution.
> By saying existing technologies are not perfect therefore we should
> abandon the idea of electronic voting is idiotic. The objective should
> be how to make electronic voting work taking into account everyone's
> concerns.

One objective. 

> Let's face it, electronic voting is here with its imperfections, and
> it's going to happen and be available to everyone in the not too
> distant future. So make it work.

Yes. By all means. But let's NOT accept it WITH its imperfections. They
are too dangerous.

> Karl, I agree "Non-discriminatory voting is NOT the same as electronic
> voting, and it is a fallacy to equate the two." But, electronic voting
> is probably the only viable method of giving people who are blind a
> private vote.

I don't buy that for one second. If a few intelligent people put their
minds to it, they could come up with a good low-tech solution to the
problem. It probably wouldn't make anyone much money, though. Two
minutes thought suggest various low-tech mechanisms to preserve the
secrecy (not privacy) of the vote while allowing the blind voter to
check his/her vote.

The dangers of current electronic voting technology mean it MUST NOT be
introduced. Not even the most basic attack vectors have been dealt with;
not even the most basic errors have been avoided. The gung-ho,
go-for-it, lets-do-it, it'll-be-alright-on-the-night BS coming from
various vested interests MUST be ignored.

Using the lack of voting secrecy for a few handicapped voters to justify
endangering the entire system is just not acceptable - especially since
it invalidates the system for those voters too.

Regards, K.

-- 
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Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)