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Open Voting

Bill M
votingmachine-200.jpg

The argument that proprietary voting machines, by their very nature, are a threat to democracy is an argument that is gaining steam.  Many are calling for the adoption of voting machines that utilize open source software.  Closed source systems have proven to be flawed, and when problems arise, the public, and government are at the mercy of the corporations who control the technology.

Creative Commons Image : "Lonely Diebold Voting Machine" by subfinitum on Flickr

 

 

Comments

don't forget

Submitted by bohemianpioneer on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 14:29.
Not only at the mercy of the corporations that make/ operate the machines, but subject to the whim of any half-witted hacker with a thumb drive or a wireless router.

Remember that time there was some sort of accountability? Cause I sure don't....

“There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.”

~ Aldous Huxley

Hacking Democracy

Submitted by Fire_Catalyst on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 14:57.
Here is a link to the documentary Hacking Democracy. This does a great job of introducing the issues we face with electronic voting and the concerns we as citizens should consider regarding the voting process. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4762159260759486531

We need mass citizen

Submitted by Sancho23 on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 04:44.

We need mass citizen involvement in this issue at the precinct level. This is something that we should be able to discuss openly, and civilly, in public as well as at work!

Seriously, we need to rip open dialogue concerning this issue and get some real hands-on solutions put in place. A system of the people, for the people, by the people!  If any technology should be open sourced it should be the social technologies that could be put in place to insure an accurate and transparent voting process.

Why should this be unfeasible?  We can do this, it just requires our participation and concerted action! 

Think big.

 

 

 

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Submitted by bkind on Sat, 05/09/2009 - 20:53.

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reply

Submitted by Bill M on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 16:33.
When a customer buys closed source software, it doesn't necessarily get access to the underlying code. What if the customer (in this case, the government running elections) suspects bad code is screwing up election results? And then the company that sold the software refuses to release the code because its proprietary? For something as vital as voting, that code should be open I think. Also, it's a myth (or at least arguable) that open source software is more hackable. Why would open source software be running on countless critical internet servers where security is a top priority if that were true? Also, note that I didn't say "all" closed source systems have been proven to be flawed, but a quick Google search will reveal plenty of factual stories about flawed, closed source e-voting systems. I believe the links I provided in the blurb have plenty of good, backed up information by plenty of experts about this issue.