If we can file taxes online why not vote online?

[fun n serious]

I have no idea why we are voting in this ancient way when we clearly have better alternatives. I am on Oregon, we vote my mail. I love it. It's great!! We make it a family event right at our kitchen table over coffee and pastries. There had not been a problem with fraud in the process in our state. I do not for the life of me understand why some states make it so difficult. It should not e this way. NOT in this advanced age! I don't get it.

I support Hillary BTW..

[hereforthevoting]

1. Oregon really is miles ahead with that one.

[fun n serious]

3. I do not understand why other states do not implement this.

Oregon has the most convenient voting system in the country. Since adopting vote-by-mail, Oregon consistently ranks as a national leader in voter turnout.

Registered voters receive a ballot two to three weeks before an election, giving time to research issues or candidates.

Voters also receive an official ballot to complete and insert into the security envelope which is placed in the ballot return envelope and signed by the voter. The ballot return envelope can be stamped and mailed or dropped off at any official drop box​ across the state. If a voter casts their ballot after the Wednesday before an election, the ballot should be left at a drop box site to ensure it's counted.

Ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.​​​​

http://sos.oregon.gov/voting/Pages/voteinor.aspx

[Lizzie Poppet]

14. And now, voter registration is automatic when you get/renew your DL or state ID.

Unless you opt out, you're automatically registered. It defaults to "independent," or you can specify a party.

[bravenak]

2. We should all vote by mail

Until they create a secure system for voting

[fun n serious]

4. It's been working really well for us since the late 90's. nt

[Orsino]

11. Though that would not tend to alleviate the disenfranchisement of the homeless.

Still an improvement, unless our masters decide to fuck that up with machine reading, too.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. And yet it does....your ballot can be mailed to the Clerk, your address can be 'the streets of

downtown'.

Voting When Homeless

Homeless U.S. citizens have the right to vote The voter must provide a residence address on the voter registration form. This residence address may be any definable location within the county that describes their physical location. This could be a shelter, park, motor home, or other identifiable location. The mailing address of a person who is homeless or who resides where mail service is unavailable can be the office of the county clerk. The voter can pick up a ballot at the county elections office.​
http://sos.oregon.gov/voting/Pages/homeless-confidential.aspx

So largest hurdle is getting to Clerk's office if need be. But unlike polling places, the ballot can be picked up at the Clerk's during a two week period of time and then returned on site or mailed from any post box. In my town, Elections Office is adjacent to various social services both public and private and to most of the local homeless population.

[Downwinder]

5. The intent is not to make voting

easy, convenient, or secure.

[mimi85]

6. The Prime Minister of Estonia was on The Daily Show

Wednesday night and he was great. Here's the way to vote...

[fourcents]

7. Very bad idea to vote online, you need a paper trail for verification......

Democracy is too important and should be able to recount a verifiable paper trail. Listen to bradblog.com he is a voting and green news journalist.

[fun n serious]

8. Well, when I do my taxes I have a paper trail..

I download PDF and print.

[Wilms]

9. That's because your tax return is tied to your name.

Your vote, being secret, is not. That's where the whole "why can't I have a receipt?" idea hit a wall.

Then there's internet security. Need I say more??

[fourcents]

18. Well said Wilms thanks.

[DanTex]

10. In principle, one should be able to. But it brings up serious problems regarding fraud and hacking.

[Dr. Strange]

13. Exactly.

IRS System Meant to Protect ID Theft Victims Seems to Have Been Hacked

[thesquanderer]

15. Complicated for two reasons...

1. Tax returns are not anonymous. Votes are.

2. Hard to do a recount. Though that's also (unfortunately) already the case in many areas where the vote is recorded entirely electronically, and there's no paper ballot to count. If there's a flaw in the program, just asking a computer to spit out its data again will give you the same wrong number. We need to move back toward more verifiability, not away toward less.

[Tanuki]

16. Hacking issues aside, it places the poor and the elderly

at a disadvantage, in a similar way to recent voter ID requirements.

[fun n serious]

17. You can upload our ID

The people who can not vote online should have a vote by mail option. imo

[Hell Hath No Fury]

19. Not a chance in HELL I would trust my vote --

to an purely online voting system. No way, no how x1000.

Here in SF I vote on an Optiscan -- I fill out a paper ballot that is then fed into a tabulator. If the need should ever arise (hello Florida!) that ballot can be hand-counted by living human beings. Voting without a paper trail is insanity.

[nemo137]

20. Yep, basically this.

I think optiscan-style ballots are probably the best compromise for counting everything quickly while maintaining accountability and recording the will of the voter.