this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2025
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stuffs ballot box
It’s easier for an admin or owner of a closed source computer system to stuff tens of thousands than it is to stuff one ballot.
In the uk, ballot boxes are watched by volunteers including school children.
The thing is, in the USA, the exit polls ( where people stand outside and ask how people voted) are significantly off in many states, causing most USA news to not use that in predicting national elections. That is significant in the multi hundred year history of the practice and democracies world wide.
It was a joke but thanks for the very detailed answer which I wholeheartedly agree with.
Closed source systems suck, they just allow for vulnerabilities to go unchecked. I'm a big proponent for open source solutions.
Otoh physical items with loads of people involved are indeed harder to tamper with. A viable electronic solution should imho still include those people and physical trails as a backup.
Never fully trust a treacherous computer :p
Thanks for your reply , I enjoyed it.
Been programming for 40 years, I’m of no special talent, it’s my trade.
If I can think of several ways to bypass any possible security of electronic voting, if the owner is participating. Then people smarter than me can do better.
And having administered large systems that have hardware and software parts, I have convinced myself it’s simply not possible to make sure they all behave well and are doing what is expected of them . Even open source.
On top of that, there is possibility of careless or bad admins, stolen admin keys, and on top of that hacking.
I will never underestimate smart people, who gain money and power, to not tamper with complex systems. So low tech, where each step can be verified with mark one human eyeballs and witnessed by the gaggle of people who have competing interests, is the only way to do democracy.
The systems perfected in Europe a long time ago work well enough I think