[HighPlainsDrftr]

I wonder and muse about this. Could we possibly use PKI electronically to do this? The gov sends you a private key as your a citizen. We anonymize it somehow. You sign your ballot. I don't have a clue how this would work, but it seems like it could be feasible.

Obviously, voting must remain anonymous. Could it happen?

I'm guessing this would be similar to presenting your SSN. Its troublesome. But regardless, I'd think that we could prove the voting record.

Edit: the more I think about this, I don't think PKI could work. Voter identification would always be available in some way shape or form. I'm not sure this can be solved with tech. Maybe we should just have paper ballets.

[dane-pgp]

The system you're imagining might theoretically be possible using blind signatures, like the Ecash system invented by David Chaum. My understanding is that if you tried to spend the same coin twice, it would necessarily reveal enough information to allow the network to discover who the private key holder was, and invalidate their transaction.

Your final conclusion is correct, though. Any system which relies on people having to trust specialist auditors to tell them whether the "correct" software has counted the votes is a system which is fatally vulnerable to FUD and conspiracy theories, even if by some miracle the hardware and software were all open source and worked perfectly.

[HighPlainsDrftr]

This is just a thought experiment. What if you registered to vote and the goverment gave you a $3.00 bill. This bill can't be used as cash (I guess, I'm just working through the problem).

You present....damn it I've already figured out a half dozen problems with this idea. Give the bill to your buddy and he can vote how he wants.

Do you have any ideas or recommendations to this problem? Every citizen whom is eligible to vote should be able to. Every vote should be counted correctly.

It is a hard problem to solve, and I would guess whoever solves this problem - especially for the long term - would be able to help out humanity in a way that hasn't been invoked in a long, long time.

Ughhh. The world is tough sometimes. Reminds me of Idiocracy - Your kids are starving. Carl's Jr. believes no child should go hungry. You are an unfit mother. Your children will be placed in the custody of Carl's Jr. Carl's Jr., fuck you, I'm eating.