Electronic voting
Bill D'Arcy (billg@netinfo.com.au)
Fri, 6 Feb 1998 00:27:54 +1100 (EST)
Linkers
A political matter of technical interest.
There is, in my opinion, a presumption by delegates to the Constitutional
Convention that the present method of voting will continue: Off to the
polling centre, get ticked off the rolls, mark the ballot papers, drop 'em
in a box, have them counted by hand, checked by hand, scrutineered
physically, with the results relayed to a central tally point; that around
and between our visits to the polls paper will remain the main means of
disseminating information on voting, of updating the electoral rolls etc.
This presumption underpins consideration of practical aspects of various
models. The presidential model remains split between a popular vote and
nomination by two thirds of both houses. The former is now bogged down in
the how tos: How a candidate would be nominated, how to keep the field
small etc etc, with Tim Costello reluctantly giving way on his proposal for
a popularly elected president. Implicit is that ballots where we get to
vote are an organisational nightmare and very expensive.
So, Learned Linkers all:
+ What's known about electronic voting and when, all things being equal,
could it be in place in Australia, with voters casting their ballot either
from home or a community access point?
+ If electronic voting is going to happen here, say in the first 20 years
of next century, is there a danger that delegates will lock us, via
amendments to the constitution, into a system that assumes that ballots in
which we, the punters, participate are hard to conduct and should not be
held often? (And leave the election of the president to our elected
representatives, thereby cutting us, once again, out of the action.)
+ And, more broadly speaking, what are the implications of the age of
information, or whatever you want to call it, on the framing of a
constitution for the next millenium?
A far from exhaustive search resulted in the following:
"Electronic democracy can be understood as the capacity of the new
communications environment to enhance the degree and quality of public
participation in government." Swinburne University Electronic Democracy
Project
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~victorp/electron.htm
"The Internet is a powerful new tool that has changed the way we
communicate with one another, conduct business, and receive information.
Members of Congress owe it to their constituents to familiarize themselves
with this new technology. As members of the Internet Caucus, we have
pledged to work to educate members of Congress on what the Internet is all
about and to bring Congress into the 21st century.
http://www.house.gov/white/internet_caucus/netcauc.html
Virtual democracy
Is the Internet the ultimate voting booth?
http://www.mediapool.com/offtherecord/vote.html
In October 1996, the national Parliament of Denmark engaged in a unique
debate. One of the minority parties, Fremskridtspartiet (The Progress
Party) presented a bill that would enable citizens to vote electronically
in public polling places by machine and by telephone and computer from the
home.
http://www.auburn.edu/tann/cp/cpnews/cpdanish.html
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Bill D'Arcy
billg@netinfo.com.au
"Simplicity is the key to truth."
Bloke in the pub