Originally posted by: LiveFreeNW
I would not support Internet voting. For the same reason I do not support the electonic machines that many jurisdictions use. I believe ballots should be physical.
Why? Many financial transactions as well as legal filings and outcomes are exchanged and recorded primarily and often solely electronically and transmitted via the internet. There's at LEAST as much security in an internet communication, properly encoded of course, than there is in a paper document. For one thing, privacy is easier to achieve electronically than with a physical document. And the security that protects electronic transactions would serve well in balloting.
And then there is the cost of physical voting--polling stations, employees, printing, etc. etc. etc. We here in Oregon have exclusively mail-in voting because we have a relatively small population dispersed over a pretty wide area. The expenses incurred by counties operating precincts as well as voters traveling significant distances would be considerable.
But to repeat, the primary reason for electronic balloting would be ease of voting. We want to make the process as painless as possible. (Of course, if you're a Republican, you want it to be as difficult as possible.)
