Postal voting

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1562419]

I think that postal voting has real problems - as I've been discussing over here (worth reading the post that's attached to too, it's very interesting).

The basic problem boils down to this - if you're voting from home then there's nothing to stop someone bribing you to vote X, and then sitting behind you while you click the button/write on the form. Similarly, much more social pressure to conform can be exerted. Whereas, if you're voting in a booth then you can say "Yes, I voted X." when actually you voted "Y", no matter how much social pressure is exerted. See The Times article on that link for an example of that kind of pressure being exerted.

Comments

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

> you can say "Yes, I voted X." when actually you voted "Y", no matter how much social pressure is exerted

Well not necessarily. Social pressure is rather powerful even at a distance. Though yes, it's much better than with postal voting and you can't ever eliminate that.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

On top of that there's the unreliability of the postal service. And almost every election there's some story about 'helpful' candidates 'helping' people to fill the ballot in or offering to post it for the voter...

[lilysea.livejournal.com]

I chose

The ability to vote from your own home

because I was thinking of the difficulties in getting to a polling booth faced by people with mobility issues / people with small children / people caring for elderly parents.

I would rather that these people have the ability for a postal vote, than have to pay for a taxi and / or be forced to use up all their spoons in order to vote.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Here's an ingenious method, which is too complex at the moment, but we can work on it ...

... at some previous point, at another PC, a bank ATM or whatever, you put a set of shapes/images into a sequence
1 = Circle, 2 = Cross, 3 = Wavy Lines, 4 = Square, 5 = Star, 6 = BP logo, 7 = Star of David, 8 = David Beckham, 9 = map of Lithuania ... whatever. And pick a symbol for "spoil this ballot" which if you use it, makes the rest of the ballot invalid.

Now when you go to vote online at home, you get presented with a ballot paper, and a stack of images which include the ones you numbered, plus another half dozen random ones. You put an image against each candidate. Only you know what sequence that represents. In a single vote, then the image that is "1" is your selection. In a multiselect/Australian ballot then 1,2,3 etc. may be important.

Even if someone is looking over your shoulder, they won't know what number each symbol represents. And if you are being coerced you can use the "spoil this ballot" symbol against a candidate to cancel out your vote ...

... too complex to remember the shapes/sequence ... but for a simple "X" ballot, then pick one of the dozen or so shapes for "X" and the rest are mapped to blank, and you have to put all the shapes on the ballot, so anyone watching still can't tell which is the X shape.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

The ability to vote from *my* own home is less important than *my* ability to vote in privacy. If I were significantly limited in mobility then being able to vote at all might require voting from home. I see no reason that this should be universal.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

The Electoral Reform Society has produced a report on increasing turnout in elections - page 17 onwards covers postal voting and mitigating some of the worst problems.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

I actually like walking to the polling station, checking out the tory posters just outside, saying hello to the tellers, chatting to the officials, drinking in the smell of the plywood, stealing the stubby pencil ... it's all good fun.

There would always have to be a postal vote or equivalent, for people who can't attend, but I think it should have been retained for people who are unable to attend. Attendance of the vast majority of voters at a specified place where people are vigilant is one of the ways fraud is prevented.

[gravityslave.livejournal.com]

For me, personally, I'd rather have the votes out in the open so stealing an election would be more difficult. Of course, I'm in NA (N/A?), so it's probably (?) more of a concern here...

[bemusedoutsider.livejournal.com]

Postal voting (or phone voting) enfranchises people who otherwise could not get to the polls: elderly, poor, sick, those with small children, those who work long hours, etc. A great many people fall into those groups, and tend to vote in the same way when they can vote -- ie they vote for more social services. Postal voting has been very popular in Oregon with no problems.

Pressured voting sfaik would affect a relatively few people, and it would happen on both sides of most issues, thereby cancelling itself out.

The real problem I see with postal voting is that some massive fraud could be done in graveyards.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

How does someone who is blind or mobility impaired such that they cannot write vote without assistance? Are there braille ballot papers, for instance?

[drplokta]

Mobile polling stations for the disabled, visiting them in their homes, over a two week period before the actual polling day. It would cost more, but proper democracy isn't cheap.

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

I dunno if this is just me - but I don't live in a headspace where I don't want people to see how I voted.

I also wouldn't be coerced in any way, and enjoy the ability to vote from my own home, so have voted for that.