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Would you give up your election secre...   The Serious You: How Current Events Affect You

Started Sep-13 by WALTER784; 435 views.
 Msg 1 of 9
WALTER784
Staff

Poll Question From WALTER784

Sep-13

Would you give up your election secrecy/privacy to ensure a fair election? (See next post for details)
  • Yes3  votes
    42%
  • No4  votes
    57%
  • I'm not American0  votes
    0%
  • Other (Please explain)0  votes
    0%
Change Vote
Yes 
No 
I'm not American 
Other (Please explain) 
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Msg 2 of 9
In reply toRe: msg 1
WALTER784
Staff

From: WALTER784 

Sep-13

Would you be willing to give up your voting privacy/secrecy if it would guarantee a fair election? That is the question. Now, here are several things to consider before answering:
 
The majority of registered Democrats vote Democrat and the majority of registered Republicans vote Republican. That said, some register as Independent to keep their voting private.
 
If you have a Trump or Biden yard sign, you're giving away your privacy/secrecy.
 
If you have a Trump or Biden bumper sticker on your car, you're giving away your privacy/secrecy.
 
If you make pro GOP or anti GOP posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Line, TikTok, Delphiforums, etc., you're giving away your privacy/secrecy. The same holds true if you make pro liberal or anti liberal posts as well.
 
The ERIC voting system knows how you're registered and which elections you voted and didn't vote in. They may even know who you voted for.
 
A lot of online voter registration sites only require your full name, date of birth and current address to register. After registered, you can follow your historical voter record. Most of these sites DO NOT require you to input a password. HELLO!!! Who knows your full name, birth date and address? Well, your family, the company you work for, past companies you worked for, your credit card company, numerous other sites you've signed up for online such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc. and the list is endless. With this information, anybody can access your online voter registration site easily.
 
And I'm sure there are probably plenty of other things that will easily give away our secrecy/privacy not to mention liberal election sites, liberal county clerks, liberal state representatives of various capacity, etc.
 
Now to get into the nitty gritty of it all. 
 
Mail in ballots and Absentee ballots require a signature on the outside of the envelope. Once the ballot is removed from the envelope, there is no way of telling who's ballot is who's. And there is also no way of telling if somebody swapped out one ballot for another either. 
 
There are 10 ways to Sunday to cheat using both mail in ballots and absentee ballots. But... if every mail in ballot, every absentee ballot, every in-person ballot were required to have a verifiable signature on the actual ballot itself... they would NOT be able to swap out or remove certain ballots.
 
That said, let's dig into the deep end now.
 
Voter Privacy: A Transatlantic Comparison of Electoral Systems
 
 
This is an excerpt from page 30:
 
>>>Europe and the United States are pressured to protect their citizens against these risks. Some argue that technology can increase the level of trust voters have in the voting process (Tapscott, 2018). However, elections get their legitimacy from public trust in the system, not the technology alone. What is most important is that the public perceives elections to be legitimate and they must believe their ballots are cast accurately, securely, and secretly.<<<
 
I recommend everybody, Republican, Democrat and Independent read the entire PDF above. It will show you how other countries handle problems compared to how the US seems to do things in an awkward way in a "supposed" attempt to protect the voter's privacy/secrecy, but in fact... it's that privacy/secrecy that gets in the way of confirming a free and fair election.
 
Just think. If after the election, you want to see your ballot. You wrote it (either in person or mailed it in as mail in or absentee ballot)... and now, after the election, you want to confirm that you vote was counted. You CANNOT DO THAT WITH CURRENT PRIVACY/SECRECY RULES IN PLACE.
 
However, if you had to sign the actual ballot you handed in (in person, mail in or absentee ballot), then it would be impossible to swap out another ballot for yours as your signature is on the actual ballot itself.
 
Bottom line: At present, there is absolutely NO WAY to ensure that your vote counted. And that's regardless of what party you belong to! As such, there is no way to prov
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Msg 3 of 9 to WALTER784WALTER784 
In reply toRe: msg 2
Showtalk
Host

From: Showtalk 

Sep-13

I see what you are saying. Unless votes are known we can’t tell if it was honest. However, it doesn’t account for people voting Democrat just so they aren’t harassed. Independents often swing an election, and those are the ones who elected Trump in 2016. So I would say No, it’s substituting one problem for another.

 
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Msg 4 of 9 to WALTER784WALTER784 
In reply toRe: msg 2
Keltos

From: Keltos 

Sep-13

At my polling place, if independent, you tell the poll worker which ballot you want. Republican or Democrat. Privacy impaired. Also, the ballots are fed into an optical scanner, face up. Another poll worker can usually see at least some of your entries.

 
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Msg 5 of 9 to KeltosKELTOS 
In reply toRe: msg 4
Showtalk
Host

From: Showtalk 

Sep-13

So there is no privacy. But in the November election aren’t all ballots the same?

 
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Msg 6 of 9 to Showtalkshowtalk 
In reply toRe: msg 5
Keltos

From: Keltos 

Sep-13

Yes, but the worker on the way out can see the ballot. Whether they care or not, I do not know.

 
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Msg 7 of 9 to KeltosKELTOS 
In reply toRe: msg 6
Showtalk
Host

From: Showtalk 

Sep-13

They probably don’t care that much

 
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Msg 8 of 9 to KeltosKELTOS 
In reply toRe: msg 4
WALTER784
Staff

From: WALTER784 

Sep-13

Keltos said...

At my polling place, if independent, you tell the poll worker which ballot you want. Republican or Democrat. Privacy impaired. Also, the ballots are fed into an optical scanner, face up. Another poll worker can usually see at least some of your entries.

Yep. And the same for mail in ballots and absentee ballots. The person opening the envelopes and removing the ballots can see them too.

So your privacy is not guaranteed... even in it's current state!

But as for the scanner part... they should do away with the scanners and all the other machines... tabulators, voting pads, etc.

FWIW

 
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Msg 9 of 9 to Showtalkshowtalk 
In reply toRe: msg 5
WALTER784
Staff

From: WALTER784 

Sep-13

Showtalk said...

So there is no privacy. But in the November election aren’t all ballots the same?

That's just the point. So how can you keep your voter privacy that you don't really have.

Primary and General election ballots are usually different.

FWIW

 
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