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essay on uses of electronic voting
Electronic voting advantages and disadvantages
Electronic voting advantages and disadvantages
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In order to decide who runs a country, there are many steps that have to be taken. While it is important to have an electoral process in place, a constant struggle among voters, officials, and voting experts is trying to figure out which voting methods should be used in the United States. For example, not everyone agrees with using paperless (DRE) direct recording electronic voting machines for the electoral process. The idea of using those machines raises suspicion and trust issues among some voters because “There is no way to tell whether the votes recorded by DRE machines match those selected by the voters” (Dill and Castro 29). Furthermore, past research shows evidence of DRE machines being vulnerable to hackers as well as creating longer …show more content…
Should Ban Paperless Electronic Voting Machines", believe otherwise. They warn people that this type of thinking “is based on the mistaken idea that we can build computers that can be trusted to carry out operations whose results cannot be independently verified” but this is an almost impossible task because “There is no way to know whether any of the many people involved in the design, implementation, and manufacture of the machines made a mistake or introduced a malicious change” (Dill and Castro 29). With so many things left unknown they not only claim that these paperless machines should not be trusted, they should be banned. Most concerns with DRE machines boil down to one issue which is not providing a paper trail. For example, voters who are against electronic voting but live in certain states which solely use these machines, may have raised suspicions with accuracy because “paperless DREs have no independent verification. If votes are changed in a plausible way, how will anyone ever know” (Dill and Castro 29). If results from one of these state elections came into question, there would be no way audit them. Furthermore, many people believe that with almost any electronic comes the possibility of it being hacked. That alone is enough to put the fear in some voters that certain voting methods such as DRE voting systems can be manipulated to work in favor of one party or the other. Once people begin thinking this way, it can become a huge problem as Lemos would agree when he describes the “truth about elections: They are only as good as the citizens' confidence in them” (11.1). In addition, David Lindley in "Ghosts in the machine: electronic voting machines were supposed to vanquish unreliable counts. They did not--but David Lindley finds that other technologies present their own problems", discusses
Despite the overwhelming critics, Texas remains one of several states that keep supporting the concept of partisan judicial elections, where voters cast a straight-ticket vote. In fact, electing judges by the public leads to a number of ethical problems which necessarily require compromise between judicial integrity and independence. Most of the allegations of wrong-doing have caused a number of professional and citizen groups to become disaffected with the existing system.
The voter ID issue starts with certain laws that, in the US, require that a person show a form of official ID before they are allowed to register to vote. This issue has split both Republicans and Democrats. According to Kenneth Jost, “republicans say [voter-ID laws] are needed to prevent fraud and protect the integrity of elections. Democrats say the laws are not needed and are being pushed in order to reduce voting among groups that skew Democratic in elections especially Latinos and African Americans” (Jost, p. 171). Both of these perspectives are valid, and with an open mind, can both sides have important points about the validity and inclusion of elections. On one hand, it is crucial to prevent fraud and keep the elections free of error, otherwise the outcome could be an unfair ruling. On the other side of the argument, voter-ID laws can cause discrimination and prevent people from voting, also
Previously, Hasen describes Democrats as being the ones who want more people to have access to voting. Republicans, on the other hand, are painted as the ones who want stricter voter registration to preserve the integrity of elections. A problem with our voting system is we cannot be sure of the integrity, as in almost every election, there is some sort of fraud claim. Hasen looks into one of the main problems in our voting system; how we vote. Hasen discusses why different methods of electronic voting are present, what they intended to accomplish by implementing these systems, and the issues associated with
The United States of America is often touted as the guiding beacon of democracy for the entirety of the modern world. In spite of this tremendous responsibility the political system of the United States retains some aspects which upon examination appear to be significantly undemocratic. Perhaps the most perplexing and oft misunderstood of these establishments is the process of electing the president and the institution known as the Electoral College. The puzzle of the Electoral College presents the American people with a unique conundrum as the mark of any true democracy is the citizens’ ability to elect their own ruling officials. Unfortunately, the Electoral College system dilutes this essential capacity by introducing an election by
Voting is at the center of every democratic system. In america, it is the system in which a president is elected into office, and people express their opinion. Many people walk into the voting booth with the thought that every vote counts, and that their vote might be the one that matters above all else. But in reality, America’s voting system is old and flawed in many ways. Electoral College is a commonly used term on the topic of elections but few people actually know how it works.
Almost all of the Gilded Age politics revolved around the effort of the government to find some system so they could regulate big business and to regulate its own abuses. Machine Politics was the government’s response. The first reason machine politics worked was because there were no secret ballots (Mandelbaum 135). Ballots were very colorful and it was easy to tell who someone was voting for when they went to the polls (...
Perhaps the greatest threat that FPTP poses to democracy is the appalling discrepancy between election results and the actual percentage of votes cast for each political party. In the FPTP syste...
When America was first established, they had the highest voting turnouts ever in American history. Ever since, America’s voting turn-out has dropped (Fortin). The reason for the high turn outs were because American colonists wanted change from the British’s electoral system. As history writes, American colonist rebel and over time becomes one of the greatest countries ever. Today, Americans are one of the worst countries in vote to registration as they rank 120 in the world (Pintor). Over the summer, I got to learn more about Ohio’s electoral system and voting turn outs in a first hand experience. A decreasing number of voting to registration is not only a national problem, but a local issue as well and there are creative ideas in fixing these
John Adams once said "You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." For many generations, our ancestors have fought for the right to vote. It started with the Civil Rights Act in 1964 which made it mandatory that white schools integrate black children into their institutions. The outcome of the 1964 election was a landslide, favoring the democrats, which broached the issue of civil rights legislation. In 1964 “only 7% of eligible black citizens in Mississippi were registered; in Alabama the figure was 20% (Kernell, et. al 2014, 162). The low voter turnout rate was because people of color were required to take a literacy test. This all changed when President Johnson
The case study about Voter IDs has become more popular ever since the presidential election began in November. This case study demonstrates the importance of having a Voters ID to prohibit Voter Freud. It has come to the attention of several individuals that many of the elections in the past have been a victim of voter Freud, and nothing has been done to resolve the situation. Others view the Voter ID laws as depriving voters; however, the laws are there to protect US citizens from non-US citizen votes that decrease US citizen’s odds of their vote counting. The case study on Voter ID needs to become further acknowledged to minimize future voter Freud.
As the United States of America gets older, so does the presidential election voting system. The argument to change this method of voting has been becoming more and more popular as the years go on. It has been said that the Framers of the Constitution came up with this method because of the bad transportation, communication, and they feared the public’s intelligence was not suitable for choosing the President of the United States. Others say that the Framers made this method because they feared that the public did not receive sufficient information about candidates outside of their state to make such a decision based on direct popular vote. My research on this controversial issue of politics will look into the factors into why the Electoral College exists and if it is possibly outdated for today’s society. It will look into the pros and cons of this voting system, and it will explore the alternative methods of voting such as the Direct Popular vote. Many scholarly authors have gathered research to prove that this voting system is outdated and it does not accurately represent the national popular will. Many U.S. citizens value their vote because they only get one to cast towards the candidate of their choice in the presidential election. Based on the Electoral College system their vote may possibly not be represented. Because of today’s society in the U.S. the Electoral College should be abolished because it is not necessary to use a middle-man to choose our president for us. It is a vote by the people, all of us having one voice, one vote.
The ability to vote is one of the most fundamental rights offered by our constitution, and it is intrinsically valuable to our democracy. Preventing voter fraud is essential to the stability of our political system, and that must be achieved while simultaneously not encumbering the voters with stipulations. Voter Identification laws and regulations have created intense controversy in both the public arena and political sphere. Voter identification laws require voters on election day to show specific forms of government-issued identification before casting a ballot. (Sobel et al. 2009) Those in support of voter identification laws and regulations often assert that these laws discourage fraudulently cast votes, and preserve the integrity of our elections. Generally, those who argue against voter identification laws suggest these laws are discriminatory in nature and are put forth to legally suppress lawful voters. Often the opponents of these laws liken them to previously found unconstitutional methods to suppress voter turnout. While giving a speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention then Attorney General Eric Holder chastised the states that began to turn away registered
The strategies of voter concealment can extend from minor grimy traps that make voting badly arranged to unlawful exercises that physically
Living in the digital age has changed the way many Americans view politics. The internet has made it possible to connect to local and national politics without leaving the comfort of our homes. Surveys and questionnaires are answered through email and ballots are filled out online in a process known as digital democracy. Technology has raised the question of whether or not political representatives are even still necessary in our government. There are many advantages and disadvantages to digital democracy. Digital democracy would be advantageous because it is simpler, less expensive, and caters to younger citizens; but it is disadvantageous because it is potentially dangerous, may not reach all citizens, and creates skepticism among many voters.
...in the politically process could be a reality. Once a person's vote is stolen their voice is lost and the votes could be sold for a profit. The challenge to the validity of our future elections could destroy the confidence in our electoral process.