Y'know, it always kinda throws me when I realise people in the US (and, I believe, in the UK) don't like the idea of computerised voting. It was implemented here during my teens, and the year I first got to vote was the first year it was nation-wide. But I suppose it's the same as with the whole compulsary ID thing. I'm so used to it it never occurs to me there's a potential for abuse there.
I just figure if we can't do the electoral process using pen and paper (thankfully I can again hear the words hanging or dimpled chad without screaming), there's no point in muddling up the process even more. I also presume that in Belgium the government has complete and total oversight over the voting machines as opposed to farming the production and development of them out to private companies with a strong Republican slant. (And that whole commitment towards democracy thing helps too. :P)
I just figure if we can't do the electoral process using pen and paper (thankfully I can again hear the words hanging or dimpled chad without screaming), there's no point in muddling up the process even more.
Ah, point. Although, computerised systems, if properly and impartially operated, can avoid problems like weeklong election counting stretches. Though I can appreciate that having something physical to count may be important to a lot of people.
I also presume that in Belgium the government has complete and total oversight over the voting machines as opposed to farming the production and development of them out to private companies with a strong Republican slant.
Ah. Heh. Well, yes. Plus, with the number of parties we have, I'm not sure any one party could influence the making of the machines (I think they are contracted out, but under gov't supervision), and even if they could, it'd be fairly useless.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
winterfish
no subject
Date: 2004-05-05 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-05 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-07 02:14 am (UTC)Ah, point. Although, computerised systems, if properly and impartially operated, can avoid problems like weeklong election counting stretches. Though I can appreciate that having something physical to count may be important to a lot of people.
I also presume that in Belgium the government has complete and total oversight over the voting machines as opposed to farming the production and development of them out to private companies with a strong Republican slant.
Ah. Heh. Well, yes. Plus, with the number of parties we have, I'm not sure any one party could influence the making of the machines (I think they are contracted out, but under gov't supervision), and even if they could, it'd be fairly useless.