eVoting

1
eVoting?
Not necessarily the better choice
2
Technical Issues

• Security- hackers and vote manipulation
• Software- what kind of software considerations
  are we talking about???
• Acts of God- power loss, corrupt memory, a bad
  platter on a hard drive
• eVoting takes away the physical vote- in case of
  discrepancies, how can a recount be determined
  without a tangible vote to count?

3
Societal Issues

• The digital divide would be more apparent-
  citizens over the age of 45 comprised 53.3 of
  all voters in the 1996 presidential election
  this age group would be the most likely to feel
  intimidated by computers and technology
• What about the secret ballot?- there would be no
  anonymous vote.
• Voting in the workplace- coercion by other
  employees, peers, etc.

4
Political Issues

• eVoting may discourage state-by-state
  electioneering- politicians may realize that
  voters have more in common with a chat buddy 1000
  miles away than they do with the family next
  door
• Change in laws- in 1965, the Voting Rights act
  was passed to end discrimination against blacks.
  This law prohibits states and counties from
  making any change in voting procedure without
  federal approval

5
Examples from election 2000

• Hacking if hacking a centralized database
  wouldve been an option, a mere 150 votes
  wouldve made a significant difference
• The Elderly and Poormany of those that were
  unable to punch the correct hole were either
  elderly or uneducated. Many of these people
  would have never even voted had it been internet
  based. How would that have changed the election?
• How would the recount have been handled?