Re: Political participation for whom? [cr-95/9/10]

1995-09-29

Sender: LECLERC YVES <•••@••.•••>

Arun,

Your post on e-vote was very informative. Some conclusions I draw from it:

1. Electronic voting schemes are far from safe as they are. Much better
security and understanding of the processes involved is necessary.

2. Using them for electing people is asking for trouble: the incentive
for cheating is much greater than for non-binding referenda.

3. Such methods are nearly worthless unless they are backed by a good
information system, including a discussion forum, to ensure that the
people voting are in  possession of not only the facts, but the arguments
of all parties to the question.

4. Not only is a universal access network required, but it must be
user-friendly and cheap enough so that all citizens can effectively use
it.

5. Voters must also have time to inform themselves and debate -- a major
problem in our workaholic-oriented Western societies.

6. Part of the answer to 4 and 5 above may rest in the concept of
"deliberative" polling or political juries, where randomly selected
citizens, correctly briefed, could vote in the name of the whole
population on some matters.

Regards,

Yves Leclerc          Dead-End Democracy? or open-ended government...
Montreal, Que



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