For countries like Australia with the "below the line"
preferential voting system, it would be handy if voting
machines had NFC/2DBarcode support for auto filling the
voting screen.
This would allow for using websites or smartphone apps
to
generate preferences that most closely matches
the
voter's
intention.
2D barcode mode will also be useful for on the day
distribution of flyer's by political parties (or even non
specific political parties), to hand out voting settings
suggestion in the the political flyers on voting day.
Even in first past the post voting system can benefit from
this, in the sense that other smaller parties will be more
detectable if included in more better known voting
suggestion website/apps.
Think of it as similar to the difference between shopping
mall store and internet app marketplaces. In shopping
mall, only the one with the biggest amount of money will
have the media clout to bludgeon most other smaller
stores. But in an app store, you can discover smaller apps
more easily, since your customer will find you, rather
than
you finding em.
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The module for this should really transmit this only over
UART to the voting logic computer. Can't get any simpler
than that in terms of attack vectors. (Please do not use
PHP as your voting machine programming language, nor
hook it up to an SQL database.).
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PROS: Opens up a whole new market of voting suggestion
websites/apps that can more easily interface with voting
machines.
CONS: Upgrades to voting machines required.