So, do you think a voting app will become a thing?

[MoseySusan]

I’m thinking about places where the weather might prevent people from voting today. PBS News interviewed a number of 20-somethings, and one of them suggested online voting. Of course. But the PowersThatCode can make an app do nearly everything, including verify voter registration and allow for only one response. Although I prefer in person voting, I prefer a larger voter turnout more. 

[bikeman564™]

Get the heck out.  This was my idea. I wish there was a voting app.

[Dirtyhip]

No.

[MoseySusan]

1 minute ago, bikeman564™ said:

Get the heck out.  This was my idea. I wish there was a voting app.

Right?  Absentee and early voting are ok for improving the numbers of people who vote, but I think an app would most closely consider every person of voting age. 

Election results based on 9% of eligible voters have to stop. 

[Razors Edge ★]

26 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

No.

Yep. For one very simple reason: that would benefit one specific side of the aisle and the other side would absolutely NEVER want that outcome.

[maddmaxx ★]

Do you really think your phone is that secure?  

[Kzoo]

32 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Yep. For one very simple reason: that would benefit one specific side of the aisle and the other side would absolutely NEVER want that outcome.

That's one issue with it.  There are lots of issues with it - not just technically.  We already have issues each cycle of fraud and coercion and hacking and......

I'm on the side that says it will happen some day but it won't be soon.

And I saw the PBS piece last night.  Lots of interesting opinions by HS students.  There's a reason we have a minimum voting age.  Just because you have a voice doesn't mean the rest of the world wants to follow your advice. 

[groupw]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Yep. For one very simple reason: that would benefit one specific side of the aisle and the other side would absolutely NEVER want that outcome.

Interesting. In my job I often work on PCs in people’s homes. I see an increasing number of seniors trying to learn smartphones. They are from multiple demographic and political stripes. 

I think there are multiple security issues to be resolved both on the voter and government sides, but nothing insurmountable. My phone has fingerprint security. That is more than required when i go to vote in person. 

[Razors Edge ★]

And I would just state also that it will be a state-by-state decision, so somewhere like Oregon or Washington are likely to do it first - both because of their technical nature and because their demographics align with an aim to increase voter turnout.

[petitepedal ★]

I think election day needs to be a national holiday...

[Razors Edge ★]

3 minutes ago, petitepedal said:

I think election day needs to be a national holiday...

Similar reasons to an app or online voting or easy absentee/early voting.

It's not that we can't or haven't thought of this sort of thing, but rather that it benefits one group more than another, so politics and not civics is involved.

[MickinMD ★]

Since cell phones are particularly vulnerable to viruses - I keep my financial apps on them in case of emergency but never use them and only store my passwords as mnemonics there - I don't think app voting will happen until a system that truly blocks hacking possibilities comes to be.  Even now, some places are considering going back to paper ballots or the old pull-the-lever voting machines because full-fledged computers with highly-paid-for anti-virus systems are still vulnerable to hacking.

Well, I'm off to vote before the lunch crowd: in Maryland, turnout is much higher in the State and House Elections years - the even-numbered, non-Presidential years - than in Presidential Elections years.

Our districts, federal and state, are so gerrymandered that my vote probably won't matter, but you never know!

[TrentonMakes]

Like most apps, I'd have concerns about security. 

But I guess we already have concerns about election security.

[late]

A voting app is a terrible idea. The CIA has been hacked repeatedly, your phone would be like Bambi in Jurassic Park.

Successful democracies have independent, non-partisan, voting authorities. Like the Brit's Boundaries Commission. We used to force countries to get them. That we don't have one tells you we are quite corrupt.

[maddmaxx ★]

It really doesn't matter if your cell is secure.  The vote still travels through several nodes before it's counted.  What really counts is the net value of the security between your thumbs and the final tally.  The weakness is likely at your providers end.

[Razors Edge ★]

2 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

It really doesn't matter if your cell is secure.  The vote still travels through several nodes before it's counted.  What really counts is the net value of the security between your thumbs and the final tally.  The weakness is likely at your providers end. 

Technically, I think it goes through a series of tubes!

[Randomguy]

4 hours ago, bikeman564™ said:

Get the heck out.  This was my idea. I wish there was a voting app.

It is pissing rain now, and has been all day.  I will brave the deluge and vote these bastards out anyway.

An app would be much better, but I can imagine scenarios where your identity and vote could be stolen by somebody or other, or some people could be unduly influenced by fuckwads in the same room.

[Kzoo]

29 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

An app would be much better,

Alexei, Yuri,  and Vladimir agree.  Their job would be so much easier.

[Prophet Zacharia]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Technically, I think it goes through a series of tubes!

I just told my vote to my vacuum and saved the middle man. Dyson 2020 was it’s reply.

[bikeman564™]

20 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Alexei, Yuri,  and Vladimir agree.  Their job would be so much easier.

and no more counting hanging chads

[Prophet Zacharia]

6 minutes ago, bikeman564™ said:

and no more counting hanging chads

They prefer Novichok to hanging. But they’re not specific to Chads.