It’s time to send the vote to the Web.
We live in what is supposed to be the greatest democracy on the planet. Why is it then that a large number of Americans literally need to take a day off from work to vote? With over 27 million votes already cast, there have been reports of long lines causing wait times as long as four, six, and even eight hours, many voters are forced to make a choice: Vote or go to work.
“Six hours is ridiculous in terms of waiting in line,” one Ohio voter told CNN. “I still haven’t had an opportunity to vote,” said a Florida reader after waiting in line for three hours. “It seems crazy.”
In other words, Americans, once again, have to pay to vote. This is absolutely ridiculous! Rachel Maddow coined this the “New Poll Tax” and I could not agree more:
Watching CNN earlier, they reported that the network has already received more than 25,000 calls complaining of long lines, voting problems, etc. (…then the two anchors began talking about a potential benefit of waiting in lines for a long period of time…you could meet the love of your life. I can’t make this stuff up.) HuffPost reported that the Election Protection Coalition, as of last weekend, had received more than 80,000 reports of voting problems.
These seem like staggering numbers until you consider that, in today’s elections, there are literally thousands of different ballot designs/layouts, many different types of voting (e.g. absentee-only, punch card ballots, electronic voting) and tens of thousands of different polling places. Throw in the fact that there’s early voting in some, but not all, states and that the poll hours in those states are different from county to county. Now, consider that all these problems are merely continuations of issues experienced during the 2004 election where only 64% of eligible voters turned out to cast ballots. Imagine what would happen with a 90-95% voter turnout.
The most frustrating part of all of this is that none of it is necessary. The Internet is a wonderful solution for every single voting problem we face in this country today. Sure there are going to be issues, fears of hacking and corruption, etc., but nothing like those that exist today. Here’s my breakdown, in no particular order, feel free to comment below:
Issue: Varied and confusing ballots.
Solution: Internet voting would offer centralized and standardized voting where all Americans would be using the same ballots. This would allow for the easy creation of user guides, consistent media coverage, etc. An online voting guide could be created that could easily be personalized to each voter’s locale, including a step-by-step animated or video tutorial of the voting and selection process. Because of the nature of web apps, this same help material could be available for review at any time during the voting process without the need to stop or restart.
Issue: Unreliable or inaccurate electronic voting machines.
Solution: E-voting machines are manufactured by several different companies in the U.S. I’ve already detailed the problem with several of these companies having partisan ties to the Republican Party, but beyond that exists the issue of each of the companies using different closed-source programs for the voting and reporting process. Internet voting eliminates the need for machines specific to voting as well as the differences in programming responsible for collecting and tallying the votes that are cast.
Issue: Long lines at polling stations.
Solution: Internet voting would allow everyone to vote at a time that was convenient to them. Obviously not everyone has a computer or Internet connection, but the infrastructure for publicly-accessible computers (e.g. libraries) already far surpasses the number of electronic voting machines available. Polling stations could easily and quickly be set-up with dozens of low-cost computers, all of which could have an interface more familiar to most users than that of the current e-voting machines.
Issue: Tech support.
Solution: In Philadelphia, where the majority of precincts have only two e-voting machines, it can take roving repair teams teams more than an hour for even the most minor of repairs. If machines need to be replaced, wait times can be even longer. With a web-based voting system, most computer problems at polling stations could be solved with a simple reboot of the offending machine. If not, it would take 15 minutes or less to roll out a new machine, plug in the monitor, keyboard and mouse and have it up and running. Best of all, the replacement could be completed by virtually anyone with even basic computer experience.
Issue: Lack of a paper trail with e-voting and paper ballots.
Solution: We all remember (or should remember) the various issues of the 2000 and 2004 elections. E-voting machines that didn’t print paper receipts showing a voter’s selections (which Diebold said was impossible even though they make a large portion of the ATMs used in the U.S. that do the very same thing), and who can forget the hanging chads? Internet voting would easily allow for a printable receipt showing all the user’s selections, as well as including a unique confirmation number that could easily be tied back to their voting session for auditing purposes if ever needed.
Issue: Voter intimidation.
Solution: Reports of disgusting acts of voter intimidation by the Republican Party and its supporters have continued to increase over the past few elections. This year, things have reached new heights. Whether it’s posting fliers with bogus threats or physically threatening those who have turned out to vote, there seems to be no end to the lengths people will go to keep others from voting. Internet voting would allow the vast majority of voters to vote from home, or at the home of a friend or relative, greatly reducing the opportunities for intimidation to occur.
There are many theories as to how identification and security would be handled if voting in our country was moved to the Web and I have a few ideas of my own. More to come on those subjects a bit later.
–Gordy
