Module 3 Assignment 1 Discussion

In the near future, Congress and the states will abolish the process of voting at the polls in the United States. Instead, all citizens will cast their votes via an approved and secure smartphone app.

Describe what changes you anticipate this would make to the accuracy, documentation, expense, and convenience of the voting process.

What method of fairness do you feel would be best suited to counting the votes in this process: majority rule or some other variation?

Explain whether this method of voting could be considered truly secure.

What are some unintended consequences that could arise from this method of casting votes?

First of all let me say that due to some very bad decision making in my youth I was not allowed to vote for many years in my state (Georgia). Because of this I didn’t think the voting process carried that much weight. I have always felt like this process was rigged and it didn’t really matter, because the outcome was already decided. I used my opportunity to cast my vote once we had a candidate that I believed in and that was President Obama. I actually felt like I had a say in choosing my President of The United States! I couldn’t believe how I could forego this valuable process. After reading how complicated this voting process really is, I now understand some of hesitance, and belief that the process was rigged. I mean you vote, you count, the one with the most votes wins. But reading that it’s not that simple and even if the process is done this way by majority rule, it’s still not a totally fair process. And there are different things that must be considered.

If the United States decided to change the voting process to voting by secure smartphone app would be disastrous. This idea may seem convenient for those voting initially but would anyone want to choose a system with so many flaws, because it’s convenient? There are so many problems to consider when using this process like security, the availability of smartphones. If there were smartphones stationed for people to use, this would be the same as going to the polls. How do you regulate this process so it becomes accurate? You don’t know who voting, you don’t know their age, and you don’t even know if they are legal citizens or not. They could be illegal aliens. You don’t know if they are allowed to vote (criminal history), I spoke about the laws of Georgia.