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points by Spivak 2 days ago | 0 comments
I get wanting to be wary of bespoke voting software but in this hypothetical it's a human watching the screen of a boring Windows workstation provided by the state's IT department as the poll worker uses Microsoft Outlook and puts ballots in a folder. At what point is the threat vector remote enough with these devices we're fine trusting literally everything else in our lives to that it's paranoia rather than a legitimate threat? I mean even if you are that paranoid let anyone who cares analyze the machine afterward I guess. And in this system recounts are trivial, you still have all the original data.
[–] theluketaylor 1 day ago
No where else needs the level of anonymity that voting does, in fact in nearly all other cases we want strong identity authentication, authorization, and accountability throughout when conducting official business.

If you can tie people to their vote you can intimidate them or purchase votes, both very bad outcomes for a democratic process. A secret ballot is a core element of a strong, stable democracy. That's a rare attribute to value to the same extent, so no technology platform has really been built with that in mind. There is plenty of active research underway to make it possible, but as it stands old fashioned paper ballots, whether done in person or by mail, have some unbeatable properties.

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