Increasing Voter Turnout – Part 2

» kenrg - Internet Voting

Beyond the security issues, another major drawback to Internet voting is it further diminishes our sense of community. Your actual vote may be private, but voting is a public act.

I believe it is an important reminder of our connections to everybody in our community to have to go to the polling place and meet our neighbors.

Already, too many of us are voting strictly our own private interest, even when we know the communal interests lie elsewhere. Voting from the privacy of one's home would only accelerate that trend, and would not bode well for society as a whole.

That doesn't mean the Internet can't be used. I do think that the public polling place should be wired. Outdated Vote-o-Matic punch card machines should be replaced by terminals that record votes electronically. At several points during the day the current results could be both sent electronically to the central tallying location, and backed up by being burned onto a CD at the polling place. No lost ballots, no hanging chad.

Now, how do you get more people to vote? Exposure to a wider range of candidates.

- Ken

-- posted by kenrg

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» GeraldS_2 - Save the Hassle

Why not do away with voting altogether? Simply let the Supreme Court appoint our President and congress people? Think of all of the time and gasoline wasted last November. A hundred million people voted and the majority voted against Dubya, but there he is in the Whitehouse!!

-- posted by GeraldS_2

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