It seems obvious to me that the current method of voting is completely broken.
- Stand in long lines
- Use voting machines that are difficult to use and prone to errors, or not properly calibrated.
- Get no receipt or validation that you voted
- Have faith that your vote is counted and can't be tampered with
- Inadequate voter information for everything that's not at the top of the ticket
While you may personally love waiting in lines outside a school gymnasium in the hopes that your vote is counted on election day I think the future ballot looks a bit different.
Voting online securely can be thought of as an extension to the 'Absentee Ballot.' The security model is exactly the same. The voter receives a registration code in the mail. It is a unique code that allows the person to go online and vote through a web portal.
The online web-experience could be designed as a simple step-by-step process that can be done in a non-rushed way in the comfort of your home. The online experience could allow candidates to make a better statement and provide final information to candidates.
We currently get bombarded by presidential campaigns but when it comes to various local positions voters are woefully uninformed.
Once you finish voting online you could get back a receipt code that you can write down on your voter card. The receipt code allows you to come back and check your vote anytime you want to ensure that the vote hasn't change and to see how the vote is counted. The receipt acts as a unique hash code preventing the vote from being tampered with. The original code hashed with the votes equals the receipt. If you try to tamper with the votes you can't unless you have the original code.
Now things can still go wrong so in the event that a recount the receipt can act as the ballot.
Like this idea, read my post from last year that got me thinking about this.