One of the main goals of an electoral system is to ensure that the population trusts that their views are fairly represented.
The reason that paper voting is so good in this regard is that everybody can fully understand the entire process. It is so very, very simple. And if you need proof, you can go see the counting for yourself.
The issue with electronic voting is that there is far greater complexity. There are many valid reasons that someone could distrust it, for example:
- You might not trust the cryptography experts that claim the algorithms are secure.
- You might not trust the algorithms to be implemented correctly.
- You might not trust the computer manufacturer to have designed a secure machine.
- You might not trust the computer manufacturer to have built a defect-free machine.
- You might not trust the machine hasn't been compromised by some bad actor.
- You might not trust that there hasn't been some random bit-flips.
- You might just not understand how computers work.
- ect. ect.
Note that it is not important whether it can be proved to be correct and secure. The unique goal here is that everyone can prove to themselves that it is correct and secure. It must be obvious to everyone that they can trust it.
In my opinion, this is not possible to achieve with an electronic system.
One of the main goals of an electoral system is to ensure that the population trusts that their views are fairly represented.
The reason that paper voting is so good in this regard is that everybody can fully understand the entire process. It is so very, very simple. And if you need proof, you can go see the counting for yourself.
The issue with electronic voting is that there is far greater complexity. There are many valid reasons that someone could distrust it, for example:
- You might not trust the cryptography experts that claim the algorithms are secure.
- You might not trust the algorithms to be implemented correctly.
- You might not trust the computer manufacturer to have designed a secure machine.
- You might not trust the computer manufacturer to have built a defect-free machine.
- You might not trust the machine hasn't been compromised by some bad actor.
- You might not trust that there hasn't been some random bit-flips.
- You might just not understand how computers work.
- ect. ect.
Note that it is not important whether it can be proved to be correct and secure. The unique goal here is that everyone can prove to themselves that it is correct and secure. It must be obvious to everyone that they can trust it.
In my opinion, this is not possible to achieve with an electronic system.