Anybody in the data biz will tell you there's nothing foolproof as far as data security goes. Some systems, like the moving of money, have to be digital so there's no other choice, but some do not.

Voting being one area where we're better off with paper ballots than we are with digital systems that are incredibly easy to manipulate and incredibly hard to monitor.

The easiest way to keep tabs on the legitimacy of paper ballot voting is to have each and every ballot put up on the web after the election for public review with the number of the ballot, city and state visible but obviously not the voter's name or address.

This would allow easy spot checks of votes cast. A multi million person "crowd review" would make it very hard to cheat the system as you'd have thousands of sleuths looking for irregularities. This would be worth while simply for the fact that you would be able to review your own ballot to make sure it wasn't "lost".
-- doctorremulac3, May 02 2016

A photoshop substitution of one ballot number image onto another ballot image is going to be tricky to detect, even with thousands of sleuths.
-- bungston, May 02 2016


And if a spot check between the hard copies and the digital copies detects tampering those in the chain of evidence will be held responsible.

Remember, the paper is not disposed of, it's kept in storage indefinitely and can be reviewed at any time.

But I believe you're forgetting the main premise of the idea, you're going to change a ballot and then put it on the web where the person who cast the ballot can review it? They'll simply say "I have the hard copy of my ballot that I took home when I voted, it's been changed."
-- doctorremulac3, May 02 2016


2-part NCR ballot papers. Take the copy home as your check.
-- 8th of 7, May 02 2016


Yup.

Simple but impossible to get around if you're trying to scam an election. You've got millions of detectives verifying the validity of the votes, one vote at a time.
-- doctorremulac3, May 02 2016



random, halfbakery