I agree. All we can do is show them the way. As Scott Adams used to say, elections are constructed in a way that makes them purposefully impossible to audit. There is a reason for that.
If the protocol were implemented correctly, it would likely solve most of those problems. That is the point.
We routinely authenticate people, move money, sign contracts, and buy goods over the internet. If Amazon can verify a transaction involving your identity and credit card, there is no obvious reason voter identification must remain a mysterious process conducted through proprietary black boxes.
But the protocol has to be rock solid.
Identity verification. Ballot integrity. Anonymity. Auditability. Independent monitoring. Redundant verification. Publicly documented rules. Multiple outside parties able to watch the process and challenge discrepancies.
Nothing about that requires voters to trust a single machine, vendor, county, or political party.
The process should be transparent enough that anyone can understand what is being verified at each step.
This is fundamentally a systems problem. Systems problems can be solved.
What has been missing is not computing power. It is agreement on an open protocol and the political will to build one.
A working prototype would not prove that nationwide internet voting was ready for deployment, but it could demonstrate the architecture very quickly.
Jim, having spent over three decades in a Zero Trust environment that worked because there was organization buy in (nobody wanted failures where lives were lost or things when BOOM! when they weren’t supposed to or didn’t when they we’re supposed to) the elegance of the systems engineering and the architecture were most vulnerable at the human level.
From a design perspective we can do this, it is the human element preventing implementation. There is simply too much low-risk, high-payoff reward in cheating. We constructed infrastructure that facilitates, encourages and covers up the fraud. There is no political will to correct this, even in the face of roughly ~80% of the US population in favor of voter identification and ballot control. Until there is the political will for positive control of the voter variable our elections will continue to be corrupt, with the corruption manifested most visibly in the key precincts/districts. I’m not holding my breath.
What if every voter had a unique QR code as voter ID ? What if the vother had to stand in front of a camera to vote and their photo was on file within the voting system for my state/precinct? And my photo had a unique number assigned to it which was associated with the same number within the QR code.
Both the number within the QR code and my face are necessary for me to vote. Once I registered to vote, I will remain registered with the same face which is associated with the same number and the same QR code, not an address.
Think about how the DMV issues a drivers license with a unique number (assigned by state) with photo on the same, except it’s called a voter ID card, but it does not have my name on it or any of my personal information that can be stolen or misused. I cannot vote without the card in my possession and my face intact.
This would be a one time process unless I change the precinct/state where I vote. When I get a new drivers license, MVD can issue me a new voters card and all voting systems will automatically be purged of my unique voting number and facial ID.
If State records are shareable that helps the verification and reassignment process immensely.
Do you ever see elections being conducted via the internet? If protocols are secure and trustworthy, will there be a need for paper ballots?
Here in Oregon, we vote by mail for all elections. I've reported multiple ballots being sent to my address but the Sect of State doesn't seem too interested. Would internet voting correct that or exacerbate the problem?
What if every voter had a QR code that was uniquely theirs? What if I had to stand in front of a camera to vote and my photo was on file within the voting system for my state? And my photo had a unique number assigned to it which was associated with the QR code.
Interesting. With facial recognition technology, sadly my thoughts first turn to "how can this be abused?" It seems like most good ideas that start out reasonable are later manipulated or abused by government as control mechanisms. It's just what they do. Are there firewalls to prevent that?
I am a contrarian. The first thing I do is think about how a system can be manipulated. Somehow, my online banking works, my brokerage account seems safe, my credit card is monitored and reasonably safe, my access to the DMV is secure. There is nothing about the voting system that is impossible to secure. It just takes a will to do it. That’s all. Like a secure border. Just do it. Does not take an act of congress, which rarely seems to “act” on anything.
I agree. All we can do is show them the way. As Scott Adams used to say, elections are constructed in a way that makes them purposefully impossible to audit. There is a reason for that.
If the protocol were implemented correctly, it would likely solve most of those problems. That is the point.
We routinely authenticate people, move money, sign contracts, and buy goods over the internet. If Amazon can verify a transaction involving your identity and credit card, there is no obvious reason voter identification must remain a mysterious process conducted through proprietary black boxes.
But the protocol has to be rock solid.
Identity verification. Ballot integrity. Anonymity. Auditability. Independent monitoring. Redundant verification. Publicly documented rules. Multiple outside parties able to watch the process and challenge discrepancies.
Nothing about that requires voters to trust a single machine, vendor, county, or political party.
The process should be transparent enough that anyone can understand what is being verified at each step.
This is fundamentally a systems problem. Systems problems can be solved.
What has been missing is not computing power. It is agreement on an open protocol and the political will to build one.
A working prototype would not prove that nationwide internet voting was ready for deployment, but it could demonstrate the architecture very quickly.
This is not magic. It is engineering.
Jim, having spent over three decades in a Zero Trust environment that worked because there was organization buy in (nobody wanted failures where lives were lost or things when BOOM! when they weren’t supposed to or didn’t when they we’re supposed to) the elegance of the systems engineering and the architecture were most vulnerable at the human level.
From a design perspective we can do this, it is the human element preventing implementation. There is simply too much low-risk, high-payoff reward in cheating. We constructed infrastructure that facilitates, encourages and covers up the fraud. There is no political will to correct this, even in the face of roughly ~80% of the US population in favor of voter identification and ballot control. Until there is the political will for positive control of the voter variable our elections will continue to be corrupt, with the corruption manifested most visibly in the key precincts/districts. I’m not holding my breath.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
What if every voter had a unique QR code as voter ID ? What if the vother had to stand in front of a camera to vote and their photo was on file within the voting system for my state/precinct? And my photo had a unique number assigned to it which was associated with the same number within the QR code.
Both the number within the QR code and my face are necessary for me to vote. Once I registered to vote, I will remain registered with the same face which is associated with the same number and the same QR code, not an address.
Think about how the DMV issues a drivers license with a unique number (assigned by state) with photo on the same, except it’s called a voter ID card, but it does not have my name on it or any of my personal information that can be stolen or misused. I cannot vote without the card in my possession and my face intact.
This would be a one time process unless I change the precinct/state where I vote. When I get a new drivers license, MVD can issue me a new voters card and all voting systems will automatically be purged of my unique voting number and facial ID.
If State records are shareable that helps the verification and reassignment process immensely.
Do you ever see elections being conducted via the internet? If protocols are secure and trustworthy, will there be a need for paper ballots?
Here in Oregon, we vote by mail for all elections. I've reported multiple ballots being sent to my address but the Sect of State doesn't seem too interested. Would internet voting correct that or exacerbate the problem?
What if every voter had a QR code that was uniquely theirs? What if I had to stand in front of a camera to vote and my photo was on file within the voting system for my state? And my photo had a unique number assigned to it which was associated with the QR code.
Interesting. With facial recognition technology, sadly my thoughts first turn to "how can this be abused?" It seems like most good ideas that start out reasonable are later manipulated or abused by government as control mechanisms. It's just what they do. Are there firewalls to prevent that?
I am a contrarian. The first thing I do is think about how a system can be manipulated. Somehow, my online banking works, my brokerage account seems safe, my credit card is monitored and reasonably safe, my access to the DMV is secure. There is nothing about the voting system that is impossible to secure. It just takes a will to do it. That’s all. Like a secure border. Just do it. Does not take an act of congress, which rarely seems to “act” on anything.