Electioneering : Who Catherine is…

Born and raised in Texas, I then went off to college in Virgina. Needless to say, I’m familiar with my state of residence showing up in red at the end of an election. In the past, I would not say that I was very politically minded.  Frankly, I found the media frustrating and never knew what information to trust.  Although I continue to question the way information is fed to us all through the national media, I now feel empowered to find information on my own terms through the web.  I decided to take this class because it seemed like an opportunity to take a look at the voting process without the engine of the media as the guide. Also, it seemed to offer a chance to look at a part of the political process that is at a moment of transition with emerging technology. And lastly, the timing just couldn’t have been more perfect… investigating the process of voting in an election year.

Class discussion on the first day was definitely thought provoking. The one idea that does not resonate with me, though, is that of “worthiness” of voters. The idea that uninformed voters should not be encouraged to vote seems like the wrong way of viewing the problem (aside from being judgmental and unmeasurable). Rather, it would seem that more force should be put behind ensuring that the average person is able to BECOME informed.

Electioneering : Voter Confidence

How important is voter confidence? Well, it would seem that it’s pretty important. So important, in fact, that it is often the defense taken by digital voting machine manufacturers when inquiries are made about possible errors according to Rachel Gillet in the article, “Pay No Attention to that Man behind the Voting Booth.” It states, “Criticism of a company’s wares is spun as an attempt to “undermine voter confidence,” so it takes a court order to uncover the truth.” I can see how public perception can be a delicate balance; the country does not want to hear about another miscount or mistake. However, I don’t believe that a private company should be able to keep public records from review.  This should somehow be amended to voting law.  In my opinion, it is the secrecy behind the methods that should undermine voter confidence to a far greater extent than asking for a recount.

Also mentioned in this article is a website called VerifiedVoting.org. According to their website, “VerifiedVoting.org champions reliable and publicly verifiable elections in the United States.” I agree with their belief that election results should be able to be substantiated with more than a possibly corrupt form of digital memory. Until the day arises that the digital method can be trusted with a similar margin of error to mechanical voting booths they should remain a joint process with a paper to back up the digital.  This brings up the point that some states have laws against paper records that can be traced to specific individuals.  In that case, it might just be that the states should remain mechanical or change law to accommodate the new technology and its need for backup.

TITLE: Pay No Attention to that Man behind the Voting Booth Curtain
SOURCE: Humanist 64 no5 S/O 2004 WN: 0425202929015