[LINK] New proposal for e-voting - Turnbull

[Jan Whitaker]

At 03:30 PM 12/09/2013, David Boxall wrote:

>The Act is quite clear. There's ample case law on the subject. For
>software to permit an invalid vote would probably be illegal.
>
><http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/backgrounders/files/2010-eb-compulsory-voting.pdf> 
>

Interesting how words are interpreted based on context.
Someone may want to check the act for what I'm about to say.

Allowing an invalid vote to *count* toward a result would be illegal. 
That's what the scrutineers are for. However, it is obviously NOT 
illegal for an individual to cast an invalid or what is normally 
called an informal vote. Otherwise a lot of people would be charged 
in every election for doing so.

The question is therefore how to vote informally with an e-vote. I 
can come up with a specific way. Sign in at the polling desk and 
immediately turn around and walk out without voting at all. It's not 
quite as satisfying as putting an X through all the names of the 
idiots you hate or writing nasty limericks, but the effect is the same.

The problem would be if the AEC attaches any identifier to the 
individual at the time and logs them into a computer, keeps track of 
a vote against that login, then takes action against the person who 
walks out. If the voting system turns into a tracking system, they 
would be acting outside the law (that's the part that would need to 
be checked against the Act. And no, I didn't read the link above.)

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com

Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how 
do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space.
~Margaret Atwood, writer

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