Scott Adams (Dilbert writer) on E-Voting machines and the US

[Arlos]

Amusing stuff, but good points, too...

Electronic Voting Machines
Scott Adams

Years ago when I worked at a big bank, one of the hot issues was that many customers didn't trust our new-fangled ATM machines. Amazingly, this fear had almost nothing to do with the fact that I worked in the ATM department. Indeed, my suggestion to include a paper shredder hole right next to the deposit hole was barely even considered. In the end, ATMs rarely stole anyone's money and kept it for long. Now most people trust ATMs.

I think about the history of ATMs when I hear all the nervous Nellies wetting their pants over electronic voting machines. I believe those worries are totally misplaced. Now don't get me wrong - there's a 100% chance that the voting machines will get hacked and all future elections will be rigged. But that doesn't mean we'll get a worse government. It probably means that the choice of the next American president will be taken out of the hands of deep-pocket, autofellating, corporate shitbags and put it into the hands of some teenager in Finland. How is that not an improvement?

Statistically speaking, any hacker who is skilled enough to rig the elections will also be smart enough to select politicians that believe in . . . oh, let's say for example, science. Compare that to the current method where big money interests buy political ads that confuse snake-dancing simpletons until they vote for the guy who scares them the least. Then during the period between the election and the impending Rapture, that traditionally elected President will get busy protecting the lives of stem cells while finding creative ways to blow the living crap out of anything that has the audacity to grow up and turn brownish.

The important thing with democracy - and this has always been the case - is that the citizens a) Believe the election result is based on the common sense and voting rights of the citizens, and b) Have enough handguns to wax any politicians who gets too seriously out of line (also known as a "check and balance").

And here the definition of "seriously out of line" would not include humping interns and stealing from taxpayers. Those things should be allowed, even encouraged, so we can attract the most capable candidates from private industry.

Call me an optimist, but electronic voting machines make me feel good about my country.

Is it too late to start selling bumper stickers that say "I think I voted"?

-Arlos

[Tikker]

haha oh shit

It probably means that the choice of the next American president will be taken out of the hands of deep-pocket, autofellating, corporate shitbags and put it into the hands of some teenager in Finland. How is that not an improvement?

jesus, most of that made me laugh

[Lueyen]

haha oh shit

It probably means that the choice of the next American president will be taken out of the hands of deep-pocket, autofellating, corporate shitbags and put it into the hands of some teenager in Finland. How is that not an improvement?

jesus, most of that made me laugh

Bill Maher made a very similar comment about a year ago... about a teenage hacker choosing the next president (believe he used Finland also).

[Yamori]

That's cute. I actually would trust some whiz-kid in Finland a little more than 50.5%-51% of the US voting population in making an educated decision.

Though really the biggest potential scare of electronic voting is localized tampering (ie, someone or a few people in an influential county tampering with the results to shift it towards democrat/republican and effecting the electoral college vote of their state if they're in the position to access the machine[s]), not tampering done on a massive scale bye some diabolical mastermind hacker. With no paper trail it is a genuine issue.

[Iccarra]

I have a feeling that it doesn't matter whether the voting machines are electronic or not....