Comments on: Voting By Mail

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:20:02 +0000

I can identify a very clear reason why voting on paper is superior to voting by internet, or any other electronic means.
Whether you use paper or electronic voting your vote will probably be tallied by a computer. However, if there is some question about what the voter actually saw when voting the paper ballot can be used to verify the vote. The electronic vote can never be verified.
One major reason that this is different than taxes (or banking, etc.) is that the US (like many other countries) uses a secret ballot. If you have some question about what someone was trying to indicate on their taxes (because of a glitch in the software or some such) you can ask the person who filed. You can’t ask the voter!
I’ll keep on voting on paper, thank you very much.

By: Stormy

Stormy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:08:49 +0000

I did exactly the same thing. I added extra postage to the ballot and then worried about it getting there ok. I’m still worrying if they got my ballot or not.

If my candidate doesn’t win the State of Colorado, I’m going to worry about it for years!

Next time I’ll drop it off.

By: Rafael

Rafael — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:15:19 +0000

It’s so convenient though. My wife and I vote the same so we try not to cancel each other out. We get the ballots and get to vote from home. Our post office is two blocks away so we don’t have to worry about the ballots being lost in transit as much.

I don’t understand why we can do our taxes online but can’t vote online. It’s 2008 and we’re kind of lame for not having figured this out yet. Social Security number login, get a voting pin number via mail, etc.

By: Jeff Walden

Jeff Walden — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:44:28 +0000

You must not have gone to college away from home, or if you did, you didn’t change your residency when doing so. I still have yet to actually vote in person in a single election, as far as I can remember.

By: Mitchell Baker

Mitchell Baker — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:34:34 +0000

Yeah, I *knew* I was adding to much postage. I just couldn’t help myself — an odd cry for certainty in a system that was making me nervous