At present, the American presidential election system is not perfect, and voting is the key. Cases of fraudulent voting, intimidation of voters, manipulation by political parties, and deliberately setting up polling stations far away occur from time to time, and the low turnout rate (usually less than 50% in the United States) is also one of the lingering problems. It stands to reason that in this era when computers, smart phones and other computing devices and networks have become popular, using online voting should be a good solution to these problems. However, can the network really play the role we imagined? The answer is: no.
Technical obstacles: It is a big problem to ensure the security and reliability of the voting platform.
Due to the particularity of the presidential election, there is no room for falsehood in this election. If people want to vote with the help of the online voting system, then the performance of the system must stand the test of many parties. First, the system should ensure that the content of each voter's vote will not be leaked to a third party; Second, the voting system should record the voter information behind each vote; Third, the system should ensure that the voter information behind each vote will not be discovered by a third party; Fourth, the system should ensure that each voter can only vote once; Finally, the statistical data of the system should fully reflect the real situation of the votes, and there should be no errors. This must be a reliable, flexible and convenient system, and it must also be a money-saving system. Can people develop an online voting system that meets all the above requirements? Most industry experts are skeptical about this.
In fact, the development of online voting system began in 2000, and many testing systems have been developed so far, but it is accompanied by endless warnings. Both experts in the network security industry and government agencies such as the National Science and Technology Commission (NSTC) have found loopholes in system security, voter identity authentication and ballot review. Industry experts believe that at least in the foreseeable future, a set of online voting system that can meet the election requirements will not be born. The network has always been omnipotent in our impression. Why suddenly become so powerless?
David Deere, a professor at Stanford University, is an expert in online voting system. He believes that the birth of this system is not only far away, but may never come. As an expert in the field of computer security, Deere is responsible for organizing "Verified Voting", the purpose of which is to develop an online voting system that meets the requirements of election voting. "In my opinion, the value of online voting in the presidential election exists, but we can't find an entry point. If only one or two problems need to be solved, it will be easier, but the fact is: there are too many problems. "
Deere believes that the most difficult problem is how to ensure the credibility of the voting platform. When people use the online voting system to vote, they need to rely on terminal devices such as personal computers, tablets and mobile phones. However, these terminal devices cannot guarantee that the voting information cast by voters will not be tampered with. "Online voting is for convenience, so it will inevitably involve these very personalized terminal devices. It is hard to say whether there will be viruses or malware on the computer. " Deere believes that many people's computers have actually been attacked by cyber hackers and turned into broilers. In this case, even if they use encryption technology to encrypt the ballot information, hackers still have ways to tamper with the uploaded data. In addition, hackers are not the only source of threats. The presidential election involves too many people's interests, and countless units and individuals try to manipulate the votes. These people may be hackers or application programmers, who have legal status to enter the operating system. Imagine that when a user happily launches a bird in Crazy Birds, he may cast his own vote. In short, the idea of voting through mobile devices is very unreliable. "In the long run, no one can guarantee the safety of these devices." Deere said that even if people install security controls on mobile devices, they still can't prevent their devices from being manipulated, and security controls can't prevent programmers with legal status from entering the operating system.
Although there are many difficulties, people's belief in developing online voting system has never wavered. Supporters believe that under the current voting system, voters need to spend a long time on the road to cast their precious votes, and many polling stations still have long queues of voters. If everyone can easily vote online through the devices around them, the turnout rate will climb to a height that history can't reach, which is the gospel of democracy.
Under the call of "the gospel of democracy", the American people have indeed made many attempts in the past ten years. From 65438 to 0999, Bill Clinton asked the National Science Foundation to develop a reliable online voting system, hoping to save the declining voting rate. In 2000, the Democratic Party used the online voting system in Arizona's primary election, and the Republican Party also used the online voting system in Alaska's pre-election polls. However, these systems died out without exception. For these imperfect test systems, Dr. David Jefferson and Dr. Aviel Rubin, experts in the field of computer information, believe that the problem lies in the infrastructure of computers and networks. If there is no fundamental change, online voting can only be a fantasy.
User demand: the president of the United States is elected only once every four years, and the public does not have that great demand for online voting.
Although network experts predict the unrealizability of online voting, there are still many people who insist on this road in reality. Safevote, Everyone Counts, Diebold While and other institutions are constantly developing their own patented technologies, and have also reached small-scale cooperation with government departments at all levels. The shortcomings of paper ballots are also increasingly accepted by state governments. Many state governments have realized electronic voting, but of course they still can't vote remotely online.
People read and shop online, and the Internet is slowly occupying every part of our lives. Supporters of the online voting system believe that as long as people have the demand for online voting, the difficulties will eventually be overcome. "Online voting will eventually come true", which seems to be axiomatic and needs no proof, is actually an empty idea. In fact, for ordinary people, the four-year presidential election is not as important as shopping online every day, and the motivation of the government to study the online voting system is only to improve the turnout rate. For the military, the development of online voting system is to give soldiers the right to vote in a foreign land, but their motivation is limited to this. "It's only a matter of time. People do everything through the internet, and as long as there is demand for online voting, the difficulties will eventually be overcome. " Dave Mei Sen, former director of the Federal Election Commission, is optimistic about the future of the online voting system, but few people stand with him.
There is no doubt about the power of scientific and technological development, so it is certain that if there is enough user demand, a perfect online voting solution will eventually emerge. However, the presidential election alone cannot arouse enough user demand.
The history of American presidential election can be traced back to 1845. The social form at that time was completely different from today, so the concept of presidential election was also very different. At that time, people didn't have TV and Internet, so the presidential election became one of the best pastimes. "Voting is a social activity. In the19th century, people will get together after voting to bet on which candidate will succeed. Now, we will take our child to the polling station, let him experience life and understand his rights and obligations as a social citizen. In some ways, voting in elections will drive people to act purposefully. " Michael J.G Cain, a professor of political science at St. Mary's College in Maryland, believes that there is no need to change the traditional voting activities. "Of course, I'm not saying that change won't happen, but at least not now."
How much role the online voting system can play in stimulating the turnout rate remains to be verified. The factors affecting the turnout rate are very complicated. For example, for many voters who give up voting, it is worthless to give them a more convenient way to vote. In Oregon, voters can vote by mail when they go to the polling station in person, but this policy has not gained much turnout. In addition to online voting, the US government can provide some simpler promotion schemes, such as making election day a public holiday or relaxing the voting period, which do not require network engineers.
To be sure, it is too difficult to launch the online voting system, and people should pay attention to other more pressing issues. Therefore, the high-tech internet has met a Wuzhishan that can't be taken. 165438+1October 6, the American people still need to line up at the polling station and cast their sacred vote.