Validating Voters For Open Source Governance, In Person 214
An anonymous reader writes "As we (very gradually) move away from feudal, leader-based forms of governance to collaborative and open source governance, some interesting new issues arise. The biggest is usually user authentication: how can we avoid sock-puppets and spammers from overtaking the voting process? Enter the concept of the streetwiki, an ingenious system for having humans validate their physical neighbors. Bleeding-edge social organization meets ancient validation protocol."
Re:This is basically how US elections work (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-02-10/pew-study-inaccurate-voter-registration-rolls/53083406/1 [usatoday.com]
it's not what the op claimed, but it isn't exactly refuting it either. I like how they even point to 106% of the last census (less then 2 years ago) being registered to vote in one Ohio county. At first glance, you might think well, that's only 6% over, but think of the children or the lack of children for it to be that simple.
Re:This is basically how US elections work (Score:2, Informative)
They should vote where they live- not where they are visiting because of resources available to them. If they move to some foreign town 200 or more miles away for the purpose of going to school and have every intent of leaving the area once the school is over, they are visiting.
That is probably the biggest issue there. Why should all the full time residents have their voice diluted because visitors overwhelm their jurisdiction then move on? You have to remember, the US is not like Sweden. The federal government only has partial supremacy over the states, the states are sovereign in all other regards.
Re:Absentee limits (Score:2, Informative)
The only limits I've seen on absentee ballots wanting to be imposed is where the states or counties within those states mail them out to everyone and they want to turn it into a request by mail or show in person thing.
Of course that does show a problem if someone wanted to commit voting fraud with absentee ballots. There would be less available and a tighter record of who asked for them, there would also be a legal situation with mail fraud and the such should someone pretend to be someone else through the US post office in order to get access to absentee forms.
I think the fears are right now that every registered voters get the forms in the mail. Some people do not vote or publicly declare they aren't voting to their friends and neighbors leaving the possibility of someone else voting for them with an absentee ballot.