Letters

Voting by smartphone

A terrible idea

Wed Jul 06 2022 - 00:11

A chara, – If we move toward voting by smartphones (Alison Hackett, Letters, July 5th), and counting votes by data centre, does that set us up for government by social media? – Is mise,

DERMOT O’ROURKE,

Lucan,

Co Dublin.

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Sir, – Given the propensity for Russian or other states attempts to influence democracy through nefarious digital activities, the irony of a letter suggesting digital voting being brought in by someone with the surname “Hackett” is duly noted. – Yours, etc,

RORY J WHELAN,

Drogheda,

Co Meath.

Sir, – As someone who contributed to the final report of the Commission for Electronic Voting back in 2004, let me say that the idea of voting via smartphone isn’t merely a bad idea, it is a terrible idea.

Our manual method of counting is open and transparent. Many of our fellow citizens, and indeed our own relatives, are involved in the vote counting process. It is a process which is inherently trustworthy and trusted.

On the other hand, any method of vote counting that relies on anything more than simple mechanical assists to the vote counting process is inherently untrustworthy.

And if the vote counting process is not trusted, our increasingly fragile trust in democracy itself will suffer.

As we already see in countries which do deploy such electronic systems, it doesn’t take a genius conspiracy theorist to start spreading doubt around the integrity of such systems.

Consider voting via a smartphone.

Well at a minimum you need to trust your phone, trust the voting software, and trust the computer that collates all of the votes.

Any or all of these could be hacked, or under the control of a malign entity. Would you trust the government of the day to have complete control over the voting process?

Trust in a voting system trumps any facile consideration of convenience. – Yours, etc,

Dr MICHAEL SCOTT,

Trim,

Co Meath.