[LINK] E-voting fears run high as election day looms

[Craig Sanders]

On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 05:50:19PM +1100, Stilgherrian wrote:
> And what, again is the "problem" for which electronic voting is the  
> "solution"?
> 
> I know this has been said before, and I know I'm preaching to the  
> choir. But pen/pencil on paper, counted in front of witnesses, works  
> and provides an audit trail. It also delivers the result quickly  
> enough to avoid constitutional crises in all but the weirdest cases,  
> and if The Meedjuh needs a "result" before anyone else then they can  
> pay for their own exit polls and dial-a-pundits.
> 
> Apart from the cargo-cult "it's on a computer so it must be better"  
> lameness, what advantage is there AT ALL to electronic voting?

the "advantage" is that it removes all of the safeguards of a
paper-based ballot manually counted and overseen by representatives of
all parties.

and it allows election rigging to be passed off as just a computer
error, not a conspiracy.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>