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Thread ID: 38677 2003-10-14 23:42:00 OT: Lets Have Internet Referenda Winston001 (3612) Press F1
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183434 2003-10-15 03:41:00 "or add a terms of conditions...and one of the conditions is person must be alone, or not be doing it under peer pressure etc...
and if they been done under peer pressure they get 1 hr or so to call the election services or something" (posted by csinclair83)

That still leaves problems of peer pressure, as a set of terms and conditions are not going to stop someone from these sorts of tactics, and the individual that is using these tactics could stop the calling of the election services.

In short I don't think that voting from home would ever guarantee that the voting process was fair and legitimate. I am even sceptical of the (not sure what it's called) vote by post (?) type of voting, as the last time I did this (some local referendum I think?) I was disturbed to find 3 different barcodes on my voting form, one of them identifying me as the voter!!!
promethius (1998)
183435 2003-10-15 03:49:00 Why should they ask? They know best. :D

Also, there are good reasons for not doing it ... Government computer systems aren't that brilliant. Have a browse through the comp.risks Usenet group, for stories about the risks of using computers to do things.
Graham L (2)
183436 2003-10-15 04:08:00 The biggest problem would be to get the personal numbers to people securely. In the past, people were stealing letters out of people's letterboxes to get their electoral documents to take down to the polling station and vote twice for their preferred party etc. I think this was on the news after the last election. somebody (208)
183437 2003-10-15 05:32:00 Yes to that.

Cheers Murray P
Murray P (44)
183438 2003-10-16 00:19:00 The problem is Personal Number means not Anonymous. How will the people get this number?

Hopefully it's not a number but alphanumeric characters, although that is still not safe. I'd be interested to know how this trail goes, as I wonder what they are trying to eliminate.

There seems there would be a lot of security to be put into this, but maybe should wait till it's official as I still can't see how no one else can get someone elses Personal Number and just use that.
Kame (312)
183439 2003-10-16 00:54:00 The details of security, method etc can all be sorted out.
Nothing any of us do in life is totally secure including existing voting systems.
The point is that Parliament could get an immediate view from the public on any issue if an online survey was allowed. It need not be binding. The Govt already spends mega money on polls and research of public opinion.

A simple "yes /no /more info required" is enough.
Public voting machines would be needed but most libraries already have computers.

So how do we get our leaders to adopt this? Any ideas?
Winston001 (3612)
183440 2003-10-16 04:33:00 Well as I intimated the Swiss have been having referenda for yonks. It is regarded as probably the most democratic country in the world.

(Now I know right wingers dont like democracy, they regard it as a curse and a limitation on their individual rights. Bush and co and the Americans generally only pay lip service to democracy. The meaning has been quite distorted.)

Referenda doesnt have to be by internet, that is not democratic for those who dont have access.

Here is just one of many sites describing the Swiss (www.isil.org) system.

We could send all out politicos over there for training :)
Terry Porritt (14)
183441 2003-10-16 04:48:00 The old Greek democracy worked reasonably well . . . but you need to have slaves to do the work . (Perhaps this what the "free" marketeers would like) .

What we've got is psephocracy -- roughly "based on counting the number of stones (votes) cast for each politician" . So do away with all the technology: put the politicians in a ring and throw stones at them until they get the message .

:D
Graham L (2)
183442 2003-10-16 06:18:00 Excellent idea. I'm going to get some hackers together and they can crack the site and swing the votes so certain politicians don't get into Govt again ]:) ;) PoWa (203)
183443 2003-10-16 06:22:00 > Well as I intimated the Swiss have been having
> referenda for yonks.
The Swiss people are neat and tidy, and so is their system. It works for them but their system might not produce good answers for our mix of odd folks and odder viewpoints.
TonyF (246)
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