Add France To The List Of Countries Unhappy With E-Voting Machines

from the it's-not-like-they-didn't-have-any-warning dept

It’s not as if there haven’t been enough warnings that e-voting machines have some kinks to work out, but apparently every new country that makes use of the machines figures that all the problems have been worked out. Unfortunately, one by one, they’re discovering that’s not the case. The latest is France. lavi d writes in to let us know that the election held over the weekend in France was the first that made use of e-voting machines, and it’s being described as a “catastrophe” — though mostly by those who didn’t win. So far, there haven’t been reports of the machines having errors, but apparently many of the machines malfunctioned while the ones that worked weren’t at all easy to use. Of course, the nature of the problems isn’t clearly explained — suggesting that it may just an easy scapegoat for politicians or voters unhappy with the results of the election. Still, you would think that with so much attention placed on problems with e-voting machines over the last few years, election officials and e-voting companies would go out of their way to make the process as smooth as possible.


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Add France To The List Of Countries Unhappy With E-Voting Machines”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
17 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

“though mostly by those who didn’t win”
Not to sound like a I-know-better-than-thou, but actually the machines were recommended by the same ministry the top candidate run. I mean he was the one assuring that the voting would be done indiscriminately.
that looked way too suspicious to let that pass…

on a more funny way : “Did they surrender to the voting machines?”
Well they could have invaded Irak because they were angry because Sadam Hussein, helped by Al Quaida, made the voting machines?

same anonymous coward says:

problems

also the problems were :
people queuing long after the poll should have been closed (they replaced in some places 4 paper ballot places with 1 machines, how dumb can people be >.>)
=> the result should have been known at 19h/20h PM sharp, yet in evoting machine places people were still queuing after 21:45….
the voting machines were made to gain time, they failed big time

Jack Sparrow says:

Amazing!!!

Hey mates!!!

Arrrggghhhhh!!

Again and again this issues come out!!

Let me point out a little question: Could any one believe a bank be working with paper cards to make all appointments, for each customer and calculators to sum/sub and calc the ballances? Could any one, please try to sell a system like these toa bank owner ??

For sure if the bank can use computer terminals/PC whatever to retain and compute the whole thing. Why vote machines should be so… Difficult!

Give me a break, Holleritz did the same in early 1989/1900 for the Census Bureal. Just input-and-counting simple procedure.

Charles Babbage , Blaise Pascal and others probably are laughing about it.

Of course, with lots of concerns about security and aditability.
Gone!

Carlos Felipe Zirbes says:

Here in Brazil e-voting works just fine

We’ve been using e-voting machines for more than a decade now and everything always worked like it was supposed to be.

Even the poorest and less instructed people are able to use the machine without any difficulties and the election results are announced before 7pm or 8pm of the SAME DAY the poll was taken.

And note, Brazil is a huge country (in some locations the voting machines are deployed by small boats) and voting is mandatory, so there are more or less 100 milion voters.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Here in Brazil e-voting works just fine

Yeah, that’s just what we need. More “less instructed” people voting. If there is one disadvantage to e-voting it’s that it now allows people who would otherwise give a crap about democracy the chance to flaunt their worthless vote. At least now only the people who truly care will go out and make their voice heard.

Antonio G Oliveira says:

Re: Here in Brazil e-voting works just fine

How innocent you are! Where is the citizenship of the Brazilian population. What does it mean for you to have e-voting, but having no access to a richer technology like the Internet. Remember that your political participation in Brazil is restricted to the act of voting. E-voting in Brazil is a risk to democracy because is alienating you to think in democracy just in terms of voting. Ask the Brazilian authorities for a technology that can increase your participation in the democratic process. E-Voting is a project of the political elite in Brazil, decided behind closed doors, and based on the market-driven approach. Have you already thought that e-voting in Brazil is alienating the people, reinforcing the political parties and the Electoral Court of Justice and reducing citizenship? Please try to give a better contribution to your country for a people that want so much to improve their democratic rights and citizenhsip.

Antonio G Oliveira says:

E-Voting

The risks of e-voting to democracy in Brazil just started been pointed out. Citizenship of the majority of the Brazilian population is very poor. However, they have the right to vote electronically. The fact is that this kind of technology is just reinforcing the powerr of political parties and the Electoral Court of Justice, but reducing citizenship. The poor in Brazil does not have access to political information, but the access to e-voting machines. The top-down decision to adopt e-voting in Brazil by the political elites is based on the market-driven approach. Therefore, e-voting is increasing the digital divide gap (the government is investing in a technology that does not improve democracy and participation) with the reduction of citizenship. In short, e-voting is the most appropriate tool to alienate the poor. The Brazilian political elites want to equate democracy with the right to vote eletronically.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...