Out With E-Voting, In With M-Voting

InternetVoting writes "The ever technology forward nation sometimes known as 'E-stonia' after recently performing the world's first national Internet election are already leaving e-voting behind. Estonia is now considering voting from mobile phones using SIM cards as identification, dubbed 'm-voting.' From the article: 'Mobile ID is more convenient in that one does not have to attach a special ID card reader to one's computer. A cell phone performs the functions of an ID card and card reader at one and the same time.'"

One phone, one vote, one person

[Anonymous Coward]

SIM cards identify phones uniquely, right? So, what prevents the ruling party from finding out how each person voted?

Re:no secret ballot = vote buying and coercion

[Zarhan]

For example, your boss can tell you to vote while he is watching. If you don't vote the way that he wants he will fire you. ...and in Estonia, this is solved by allowing you to change your vote as many times as you wish until the election day, and on that day you can still drop traditional ballot which overrides the e-vote.

http://www.vvk.ee/elektr/docs/Yldkirjeldus-eng.pdf [www.vvk.ee] has description of their system. Considering the confidentiality aspects, read especially pages 9 and 13.

Re:How about this...

[sheehaje]

Hmmm... An interesting way to do something is using a phone with a camera to do some sort of biometrics. Take a picture of the face, or eye, or a finger print. Would be some cool software to work on. Have the actually camera be initiated by a server to take the picture. Of course, this is big brother talking, but biometrics in conjunction with a SIM card would probably be more secure against ballot stuffing than going to your local voting poll site.

Re:This is a terrible idea.

[king-manic]

Always amuses me to see how many people correlate education with superiority. I'll side with Heinlein on that one...Better to have military service as a prerequisite for citizenship, because then, at least, the citizens would have to have shown themselves willing put themselves at the service of the country, even to the point of losing their lives, before they could exercise their franchise. Education says nothing about the person so educated.

I'm all for the slashdot moderator political system. The only one who can vote are the politically inactive and in good standing with the community (ie never rand for council, no arrests for any felonies). They're picked at random given 5 votes and the freedom to exercise such a vote as they please. Stating a public opinion that can be linked back to you about a particular vote disqualifies you. You can state such a opinion anonymously.

It can't be any worse then the current system.

No thanks.

[mmcuh]

Internet and mobile phone voting in the EU, where the data retention directive [wikipedia.org] will soon be implemented in every member state allowing unprecedented charting and tracing of everyone's internet and phone communications? No thank you. I'll step behind the curtain in the ballot office, put my vote in the anonymous envelope and watch the people behind the desk drop it in the box, just like in all previous elections.

Any election method where the vote can't be guaranteed to be secret (because you are allowed to vote somewhere where someone can force you to let him watch you do it) or anonymous (because mobile phones and internet connections can not be trusted) is open to abuse.

Re:Since when did democracy need to be convenient?

[Anonymous Coward]

One aspect of remote voting (this would apply to traditional absentee voting by paper ballot) is that it makes it easier to explicitly purchase a verified vote.

An important element for a verified paper trail is that the voter can receive a verifiable hash or digital signature that they voted but that the actual contents of the vote cannot be extracted from that hash so they can receive ten bucks to go buy another bottle of booze.

Re:Great for those who have cash, I guess

[francisco.colaco]

DISCLAIMER: I am as pro-american as one can be. I am also a citizen from the European Union.

The poor are never counted when one politician makes a decision. That is why they promise and lie.

The politicians ASK the poor for the votes, so they can get into power. I think the film that Eddie Murphy made about getting into congress is pretty much accurate. The problem is not GETTING into power, is being strong enough to lobby the elected into doing one's will. And let's face it, either is Europe or US, the system is quite favourable to those that own land, being the new land access to the media and the opinion makers. Which is clearly something an indigent or a poor has not.

Don't even try to get me started about Africa. I have lived in RDC (old Zaire) and Cameroon. Those two countries do have elections, which they call democratic elections too.

Francisco