Things that made you laugh today (Political Version)

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Originally Posted by Stumplicker

I mean, if you think about it, if that was going to happen, it already could be happening. 90% of people are e-filing taxes already, so more than enough info can be stolen in order for someone to file an absentee ballot for you long before you get to the polls to place your vote. Heck, in some states it'd be enough for a cashier at 7-11 to snap a picture of your license when he cards you then mail in a ballot. A high voter turnout is what, 50%? That means right off the bat there's a 50/50 chance you'd never even know someone cast a vote in your name.

I say for the transition period, leave polling stations open, let people who want to vote that way vote that way. Like taxes, it'll start with a minority and very quickly move to a majority voting online once people become comfortable with it. If such a widespread fraud network existed to get Gushing Granny into the presidency, there are more than enough loopholes in the current system for it to happen. I'd argue that trusting partisan individuals with boxes of ballots is more damaging and open to fraud than any potential abuse of a secure online system.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXmShIyjJvg

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Originally Posted by Astray

Anyone even remotely familiar with the internet knows that polls online are subject to some of the worst tampering.

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I have to think about people getting their ID and Vote stolen too. Imagine the first year of online voting and the US has 100% participation! Yeah, no.

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Originally Posted by Gelston

I have to think about people getting their ID and Vote stolen too. Imagine the first year of online voting and the US has 100% participation! Yeah, no.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiTqIyx6tBU

https://scontent.fmem1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...5c&oe=5C92EDEF

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Originally Posted by Stumplicker

I mean, if you think about it, if that was going to happen, it already could be happening. 90% of people are e-filing taxes already, so more than enough info can be stolen in order for someone to file an absentee ballot for you long before you get to the polls to place your vote. Heck, in some states it'd be enough for a cashier at 7-11 to snap a picture of your license when he cards you then mail in a ballot. A high voter turnout is what, 50%? That means right off the bat there's a 50/50 chance you'd never even know someone cast a vote in your name.

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It absolutely already is happening, it's just that what's going on isn't on a large enough scale that it directly destabilizes our democracy. A cashier stealing someone's info is just one person, and it's more likely than not being done for financial gain not election tampering. Equifax exposed ~150 million users' personal data last year. Imagine if instead of personal data it was voting records, or even the ability to vote. That election cycle would be an absolute shitstorm.

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Originally Posted by Taernath

It absolutely already is happening, it's just that what's going on isn't on a large enough scale that it directly destabilizes our democracy. A cashier stealing someone's info is just one person, and it's more likely than not being done for financial gain not election tampering. Equifax exposed ~150 million users' personal data last year. Imagine if instead of personal data it was voting records, or even the ability to vote. That election cycle would be an absolute shitstorm.

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If you had an organized entity, say a foreign Government, completely focused on fucking shit up, they definitely would during an online election.

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Originally Posted by Taernath

It absolutely already is happening, it's just that what's going on isn't on a large enough scale that it directly destabilizes our democracy. A cashier stealing someone's info is just one person, and it's more likely than not being done for financial gain not election tampering. Equifax exposed ~150 million users' personal data last year. Imagine if instead of personal data it was voting records, or even the ability to vote. That election cycle would be an absolute shitstorm.

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https://danielmiessler.com/blog/chin...se-on-america/

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Originally Posted by Gelston

If you had an organized entity, say a foreign Government, completely focused on fucking shit up, they definitely would during an online election.

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Yeah every online election we hold would be a signal flare to foreign governments, cybercriminals (god I hate typing that word), and disaffected teens to come out of the woodwork and do everything they could to fuck shit up. The only saving grace of our current system is that it's mostly decentralized so one person can only do so much. It's the same way with certain parts of our military.

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Originally Posted by Taernath

It absolutely already is happening, it's just that what's going on isn't on a large enough scale that it directly destabilizes our democracy. A cashier stealing someone's info is just one person, and it's more likely than not being done for financial gain not election tampering. Equifax exposed ~150 million users' personal data last year. Imagine if instead of personal data it was voting records, or even the ability to vote. That election cycle would be an absolute shitstorm.

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That's a good argument against it. Companies do lose information to leaks all the time, and that's problematic. Making people's votes public would be devastating. But you'd think something like that also would've happened with the IRS database with all the e-filing or a big bank with everyone's financial records, liquidity, investments, etc, by now too, so maybe it's just a matter of the right security. That's information that nefarious parties absolutely would have an interest in, so why hasn't it happened?

I don't buy the widespread attack and fraud theory, from either foreign or domestic sources. That stuff could be put together in the current system if such an entity were so inclined. Preventing that isn't much harder than the two step authentication most sites are starting to require now. Cast your vote, great. Don't have your specific cell phone on you to confirm that the vote was cast by you? No dice. Go find a physical polling station.

At any rate, I think it's coming eventually, one way or the other. It might take all the pre-computer people dying off before it starts being looked at as a reality, but we already have our country's entire economy virtual at this point. If the banks aren't getting hacked and the stock market isn't crashing by the efforts of nefarious Ruskies or terrorists bent on America's destruction, I doubt anyone has the ability to do it. Edit to add: And don't even get me started on the disaffected teens you just mentioned. Why aren't they hacking the banks to put money in their accounts so they can buy more ..whatever...skinny jeans and goth eyeliner? The answer is because the security is too tight and the penalties are too strict. I would imagine trying to rig an election comes with...well even greater consequences than financial crimes. Treason or what have you.

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Originally Posted by Back

You bet your ass. One person, one vote.

The electoral college and Senate reps were set up during this nation's infancy. Those rules do not apply any more. There are 12 million more registered democrats than republicans in this democracy. The minority party has had the executive even after losing the total popular vote. The minority party, supposedly of less government, has also had both parts of Congress at the same time. If people are afraid of New York and California running things it's because their platform sucks, not because one person, one vote is flawed.

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I'm torn between believing it likely hurts to be this stupid versus ignorance being bliss.