As the elections are approaching, public discussion is focused on the challenges of voting logistics and participation while maintaining Covid-19 social distancing.
Unfortunately, there is practically no discussion of what would be the cheapest, easiest, most efficient, most inclusive, secure and democratic way to vote. At a time when the amount of business conducted online is at new heights and we trust the internet with our shopping, credit, banking, social security and tax information; when our most private details are safely exchanged in online medical consults and health insurance forms and claims and lawyers and governments around the world use the internet to conduct confidential and classified meetings; and when we have entrusted all of our wealth, livelihoods and information to private businesses online, it is completely and absolutely irrational that online voting is not the center of discussion.
Some of the advantages of online voting are zero cost - no ballot printing, no voting centers, no volunteers and personnel to train, no security to provide, no travel, no time necessary off work; uninhibited participation as everyone has access to a smart phone; absence of Covid or terrorism risks; no need for pre-registration as everyone has a social security number and their driver’s license, IRS, and internet IP confirm their locality and location; no potential for voter fraud as eligibility and voting status of every social security number is verified instantaneously; no hanging chads and illegible or lost ballots; and a permanent voting record via emailed receipts.
Additional advantages include educated voting, as voters can simultaneously use the internet to research the person they are asked to vote for; no time pressure as voting could take place over a week or longer; and ability for voters to change their minds or correct mistakes until the nationwide election deadline. Online voting confidentiality would be maintained the same way that tax returns are kept confidential.
Importantly, the very hour, minute, and second that the nationwide voting deadline expires, election results would become instantaneously and unquestionably available for each county, state, and for the nation.
So given all advantages and zero cost why is online voting not discussed, and why are we talking about in-person voting during Covid, or about voting by mail when we don’t use the mail for anything else? Why would our elected representatives risk the limited participation, prolonged uncertainty, disputes, and post-election turmoil that are bound to result from in-person or mail-in voting in November? Could it be that our elected representatives are not that rational or competent, or that they want to limit voter participation by maintaining obstacles such as pre-registration and erecting new ones such as ballot mailing and voting during Covid; or that they do not care about costs and prefer that the voters do not know who they are voting for?
The journalist H.L. Mencken once defined democracy as the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. The results of such democracy, unfortunately, are especially obvious this year.
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