[LINK] Estonia to hold online elections

[Rick Welykochy]

Craig Sanders wrote:

> i don't see any compelling reason to switch to electronic voting
> machines in a voting booth, let alone internet voting. the benefits are
> minimal and the risks (to democracy) are huge.
> 
> our manual vote counting system is fast enough, and (unlike e-voting
> terminals) has enough eyes scrutinising it at all levels that vote fraud
> is a) minimal/negligible and b) easily detected.

Exactly.

And if you want to look at a real-world example where voting over the
net was tried, look no further than Switzerland. Canton-level voting was
introduced and electoral participation *declined*. Why? Because people
used to turn up physically to "show they cared about democracy". With
the introduction of clandestoine at-home voting, participation in
Swiss democracy in falling.

reference: Freakonomics, an interesting read which looks at all sorts
of bizarre relationships between cause and effects in society. The thesis
in the book is that economic drivers are incentive based and that incentives
have far reaching effects in all of our activites, even beyond economics.

Read more here: http://www.freakonomics.com/times1106col.php


cheers
rickw



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Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services

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