Thursday 18 October 2007

The People Have Spoken


Voting has come a long way since the Ancient Greeks wrote their candidate's name on broken pieces of pottery, or even since the wonderfully high-tech machine pictured above. (this is where the term "blackballing" came from).

The dangers of technology were highlighted in 2000 with the unfortunate "chad" incident in the US Presidential election. One can argue whether or not the end result was good or bad, but more importantly it was all rather embarrassing.

Of course, nowadays there are little voting boxes appearing on websites and blogs everywhere. There' s one on a news site that I read. I don't often vote, but I like to try and guess the result before having a look. It all looks like fun, until I saw one I had voted on published in a national newspaper as the opinions of the Greek public. And me.

This is all very well, but with new technology comes new ways to, erm, unduly influence the result. People can vote both at home and at work, and sometimes the voting widget is just rubbish. There's one I saw recently where you can vote for as many things as you want (maybe it was designed by the Lib Dems), and which allows people with the right browser settings to vote as often as they want. Not that I'd do that, of course...

So, I'll be a bit worried when they introduce Internet voting for elections, though I'm sure they'll be more careful (won't they?). And for now this blog is remaining a vote free site. Actually that's not quite true. There's one vote, and that's mine!

19 comments:

lorenzothellama said...

The best place to vote is on wordimperfect's blog! You are in the final three today but as in a general election, my vote is secret!

Re your comment on poor Mr Campbell. Well, what can I say?
I often thought Ronald Regan was the walking dead though, and what about Mr Bush? Yes indeed. What about Mr Bush.

Bee said...

Interesting that the topic for your post today is regarding stuffing the ballot box. It seems on my blog someone (or something) has influenced the poll to the wrong answer.

I'm not quite sure who or how but as with all illegal activities, the crime commit-er will bee punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Bee said...

This person should not think he's safe (or she, or it) just because they didn't leave a comment on my blog.

It's got the smell of wine gum all over it!!

Bee said...

!!!!!!----!!!!!!!

Bee said...

I'll Greek you later!

Bee said...

Οι άνθρωποι που είστε ανέντιμοι είναι συνήθως κοντύτεροι

Bee said...

AND!

SMART POO!

Jean Knee said...

We just got the elctronic voting here in Texas at the last election
I voted for Kinky Friedman. go Kinky, go Kinky!!

he didn't win, that's how I know the votes were tampered with.

go KInky!!

Bee said...

Την επόμενη φορά θα επιτεθώ σε σας με ένα soggy κομμάτι του σέλινου!

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

Undue Influence: That's shocking! The problem with allowing people to vote is you don't always get the answer you want.

Shortest? Is that what you meant?

Brian o vretanos said...

Lorenzo:

There's perhaps something to be said for electing someone who is less dynamic. They might do less harm. Braindead is another thing altogether, though ;-)

Bee said...

Did jean knee just say "go kinky"???

I tell you they party big in Texas!

Brian o vretanos said...

Kinky Jeen Knee:

I'm sure they do, but I bet their spiders are bigger than everywhere else as well...

Jean Knee said...

Brian, are you asking me to do a post on Spiders? okay, coming soon

Bee said...

jean knee, this is why you are my fave other/man/chick blogger, you can take a hint better than anyone I know!

GO SPIDERS!

Bee said...

GO SBEEDER!
(A cross between a spider and a bee, this is an exciting day for entomology.)

Bee said...

LOOK WHAT I LEARNED!!!
• ₪ ◊ ◙ ♣ ♦ ♪ ♫ ☺ ☻ ☼

Jean Knee said...

it's almost like I've seen that before, that code, than damn cryptic code.

Bee said...

I'm home!
I am brightening everybody's day with this little ditty:

♪ ♫ ♥I've got sunshine ☼ on a cloudy day... something something month of May♥...♪ ♫

Encore tomorrow!