[8539] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: issuing smartcards is likely to be cheap [Was: electronic ballots]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dan Geer)
Sat Feb 3 14:00:19 2001
Message-Id: <200102020339.WAA18580@world.std.com>
To: "Cryptography (moderated)" <cryptography@c2.net>
In-reply-to: Sundry messages through "Wed, 31 Jan 2001 20:51:53 EST."
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2001 22:39:54 -0500
From: Dan Geer <geer@world.std.com>
[ likely too far off topic ]
> Hmmm, I have a "voter registration card" and I believe that is
> the case across the USA.
Anything that is itself mechanically _required_ in order to
vote must be provided to the voter gratis else it will be
surely challenged as a poll tax. By just this detail alone,
I do not think that electronic voting from the home has a
future. Even if the smartcard were given away, that the rest
of the apparatus (PC, reader, network, etc.) was self-funded
by the voter as a matter of personal choice and convenience
would almost surely be derided by some group or other as a
sign that "rich folk" get counted first and easier.
--dan
