There was an interesting article about the perils of voting electronically in an election. There were some valid points made there about possible online fraud issues, but the one that struck me the most was that of transparency. There is still something to be said for physically casting a ballot in a sealed box in front of people. The problems of potential election fraud could likely be addressed, but a lot of people are still resistant when it comes to doing things online with their computer. A lot of people I know refuse to use their computer for online banking let alone cast their vote in an election. Computer security and the integrity of the election process seems to be one area that most people still aren’t comfortable with. Personally, I am with them. I would much prefer actually going down to a physical location to cast my ballot. This hesitation on most peoples part is largely due, I imagine, to the never ending litany of computer security breaches people read about. Were more people to take the time to understand their computer, then a lot of these issues would also go away. It always struck me as funny that people pay a lot of attention to their wallet or purse, but very little to their computer, which often holds data just as sensitive. Strange days indeed.
Technorati Tags: Electronic voting, Computer security, Online fraud