Internet voting: Good or Bad?

[s_lone]

I heard on the news today that Elections Canada is working on making internet voting possible within approximately 2 years.

What do you think of such an initiative?

I am of mixed feelings. This could probably get more people to vote. But then it seems to me it would be much too easy to get around the system to vote more than once or steal someone's identity etc.

Furthermore, when I cast my voting ballot, once its in the box, nobody knows I cast it. It's anonymous. But with internet voting how could we have a guarantee that our vote is anonymous? They would have to verify our identity, but would they destroy the data of who voted for who following the election?

Seems pretty tricky to me...

Any thoughts?

 

[petros]

If you like logging on using your thumb then yeah, cheer on internet voting.

 

[MHz]

Why wouldn't you just login using your Revenue Canada Id? How many people send their tax-returns in that way, I do and I have no doubt it is secure.

No stations, no staff, no lost/voided ballots, no printing up ballots, etc Making sure all voters had a login might be harder for the small rural communities where internet access is not as great as it is in the larger centers. Those ones might have to visit a service center to use their (secure) access. Voting could also be done over several days (if that was needed) and it would make pre-voting much easier and hopefully no 'leaks' on those results.


Does that mean in 2 years we will be having another election? Provincial maybe??? Another very good point for a cheap and efficient voting system is many items that come up in Ottawa could be voted on by all the voters rather than one majority party being able to ram through anything they desire. (that would need a certain commitment from the voters to be informed about events and if they were voting directly on the various bills.

Taking it that extra step there would not have to be 'several parties', one person from each riding to 'relay' the feeling and concerns of the voters in the various ridings who is appointed rather than needing an election campaign and all that goes with that. To be quite truthful the Fed could be run via the Provincial Governments as they would just be passing on how the voters want certain things to be. That's just an attempt to trim expenses rather than any other issue being the driving force.

 

[s_lone]

Why wouldn't you just login using your Revenue Canada Id? How many people send their tax-returns in that way, I do and I have no doubt it is secure.

No stations, no staff, no lost/voided ballots, no printing up ballots, etc Making sure all voters had a login might be harder for the small rural communities where internet access is not as great as it is in the larger centers. Those ones might have to visit a service center to use their (secure) access. Voting could also be done over several days (if that was needed) and it would make pre-voting much easier and hopefully no 'leaks' on those results.

Good points.

Does that mean in 2 years we will be having another election? Provincial maybe??? Another very good point for a cheap and efficient voting system is many items that come up in Ottawa could be voted on by all the voters rather than one majority party being able to ram through anything they desire. (that would need a certain commitment from the voters to be informed about events and if they were voting directly on the various bills.

Taking it that extra step there would not have to be 'several parties', one person from each riding to 'relay' the feeling and concerns of the voters in the various ridings who is appointed rather than needing an election campaign and all that goes with that. To be quite truthful the Fed could be run via the Provincial Governments as they would just be passing on how the voters want certain things to be. That's just an attempt to trim expenses rather than any other issue being the driving force.

That's some interesting ideas, but a whole other issue!

 

[petros]

Why wouldn't you just login using your Revenue Canada Id? How many people send their tax-returns in that way, I do and I have no doubt it is secure.

Prove it is you using it or you aren't being forced to vote under duress.

 

[DurkaDurka]

I think it would be a great incentive to get younger people voting. Also, there are ways the data could be secured and verified, no different then renewing government ID via secured http.

 

[mentalfloss]

As long as the system can't be hacked, then I'm all for it.

It would probably usher in a lot of youth voters - which would drastically change the political landscape, imo.

 

[cranky]

Why wouldn't you just login using your Revenue Canada Id? How many people send their tax-returns in that way, I do and I have no doubt it is secure.

No stations, no staff, no lost/voided ballots, no printing up ballots, etc Making sure all voters had a login might be harder for the small rural communities where internet access is not as great as it is in the larger centers. Those ones might have to visit a service center to use their (secure) access. Voting could also be done over several days (if that was needed) and it would make pre-voting much easier and hopefully no 'leaks' on those results.


Does that mean in 2 years we will be having another election? Provincial maybe??? Another very good point for a cheap and efficient voting system is many items that come up in Ottawa could be voted on by all the voters rather than one majority party being able to ram through anything they desire. (that would need a certain commitment from the voters to be informed about events and if they were voting directly on the various bills.

Taking it that extra step there would not have to be 'several parties', one person from each riding to 'relay' the feeling and concerns of the voters in the various ridings who is appointed rather than needing an election campaign and all that goes with that. To be quite truthful the Fed could be run via the Provincial Governments as they would just be passing on how the voters want certain things to be. That's just an attempt to trim expenses rather than any other issue being the driving force.

sounds like a pretty secure idea. Nevertheless, I don't know if voting in Canada needs to be all that secure, we have a system that is designed to make it easy to vote. Even if you aren't on the voters list, its not that big of a deal to show up with ID and vote. And, if someone wants to vote by mail while on vacation in another country, even that is posible.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

We do banking on the web, so why not vote? Trillions are transferred every day. Yet voting seems incomprehensible. Do it now.

And while they're at it, put our medical records online so if we go to a different doctor, he can see my records.

 

[wulfie68]

I don't like it for a couple different reasons, all centered around security and possible frauds. Just like I think some states in the US using voting machines with no ability to recount/verify inputs via a paper record is a bad idea. Voting in Canada is simple and streamlined already, and the process allows accountibility via the scrutineers representing the parties present at the polling stations. Petros may sound a bit paranoid to some but his points are entirely valid and it doesn't even need to be a massively organized fraud to screw things up: what happens if your teenager finds the card Elections Canada sends you that contains a web addy/verification code and hijacks your vote? Some may think thats not necessarily a bad thing (if kids are interested enough to care about politics) except it IS still an invalid vote that couldn't be cast at the polling station.

 

[MHz]

As long as the system can't be hacked, then I'm all for it.

It would probably usher in a lot of youth voters - which would drastically change the political landscape, imo.

That might be impossible to detect, if a person doesn't know they are being robbed they aren't going to be in 'revolt' , mode, which is the way people get when they discover there is more going on behind their backs than in front. The more people covering events the more informed they are and the less chance there is for corruption. Why not make current events part of a daily briefing of what is coming up for votes in Ottawa. Starting when a person turns 18 if they log in time that counts towards their government pension, that is how you get the youth involved in a lifetime of politics. The ones actually sent to Ottawa could be the homeless who have to learn how to run the 'website' in exchange for room and board.

Good luck in stopping hacking when the cops can already read your phone by driving behind you for 3 minutes.


A tad off topic but if 18 and over enter the 'real world' of current and future issues then from 8 - 18 they should be taking in-depth (accurate) history to understand why 'big brother' is going in the direction the 'voting' is taking everybody. The homework would be the results of an oral talk to their parents about what they learned of the past.

It would be a shame to use an effective system ( I-net voting) just one day every 4 years.

 

[JLM]

It will almost definitely get more people voting.

 

[Bar Sinister]

If you like logging on using your thumb then yeah, cheer on internet voting.

Actually I usually tend to use my fingers when typing in passwords. I only use the thumb for the spacebar. Each to his own though.

 

[MHz]

Actually I usually tend to use my fingers when typing in passwords. I only use the thumb for the spacebar. Each to his own though.

I would think doing it from the location the data on the voter would be quite secure if it was encrypted on the spot. A walk-in place would be be any Government building that can verify your identity.