Most County governments that are investing millions in electronic voting machines are barking up the wrong tree. The idea is you go to the polls on a certain day; you have your identity checked by a number of poll workers. Then you go into a voting booth, and, instead of using mechanical equipment, now you'll be using electronic equipment to vote. What's wrong this this picture?! Instead of investing millions in electronic voting boxes, the government instead could adopt a model that would let you use the electronic box you already have, namely your desktop or laptop computer in your home.
And don't tell me that there are security concerns. Of course there are security concerns, but if my desktop is secure enough to do secure credit card transactions, it's secure enough to vote. Each person would have their own secure voting account. What the government should be developing is a website and the behind the scenes software to process and integrate each voter's account. Vote tallying would be a snap! There is always a chance of ID theft and that a voter's account will be hacked into and hijacked, but the consequences of having your credit card account hacked into and hijacked are far graver than having your vote hijacked. If your credit card is hijacked, it could cost you big bucks; if your vote is hijacked, some other guy than the one you voted for might get elected. Serious to be sure, but not as serious as losing your money!
Think of the revolution this would engender. First, most of the money that goes into holding an election would be saved. There would be no need for polls, poll workers, voting machines etc. etc. It would be a convenience to the voters not having to make a special trip to the polls. By the way those without a PC could vote at any public library. There would be no need to vote on a particular day. Voters might have a two or four week period to vote much as they have now if they vote by mail. How much more secure would be voting by computer than voting by mail! Special elections would be a snap instead of costing millions.
Think of the fringe benefits. The additional government money that would presumably go into computer security would have corresponding benefits to any and all computer transactions: business to business transactions, banking transactions, credit card transactions. Instead of the archaic methods we now have and are continuing to be implemented, this would be a giant step into the 21st century!
