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

[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.

[andrewducker]

We have a long history of people being pressured into voting in blocs in this country. Strangely, I don't believe that we've had the same problems with the dead voting that the US has had.