Is A Reasonable Effort At Democracy Enough?

from the it's-a-sort-of-democratic-election dept

While other states are being more proactive about stopping bad e-voting machines, Maryland has decided it's just too much effort to, you know, make sure democracy works right. A judge there has decided that, you know what, the folks in Maryland have tried pretty hard on this whole thing, and even if the machines don't really work right and are opening to tampering, it's the thought that counts. Because they've made a "reasonable effort" to ensure the machines are safe, they can be used. Why should the "effort" matter, rather than the actual state of the machines? While it's true that other methods also have their problems, that doesn't mean that the current machines should be given a pass for being "good enough." There are clear ways to improve them and make them even less prone to mistakes or fraud, and there's no reason not to do so.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. icon
    d blevins (profile), 3 Sep 2004 @ 10:27am

    evoting

    "Do not confuse effort with results"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Jeremiah, 3 Sep 2004 @ 11:53am

    effort=less

    I wonder if the "reasonable effort" standard could be applied in other cases...say......P2P. As in: "The court finds eDonkey to have made a reasonable effort to ensure their products are not used in a way harmful to copyright holders. Mr. Valenti, you may now go to hell."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    John D., 6 Sep 2004 @ 4:53pm

    Actually not a bad ruling

    "There are clear ways to improve them and make them even less prone to mistakes or fraud, and there's no reason not to do so."
    In this context, there are reasons not to do so. The general election is 2 months away and changing things now would be completely irresponsible. The voting system Md bought is far from perfect but this actually was a good ruling from a judge who understood 1) that it takes a lot of preparation to run an election and 2) that election officials *are* committed to a fair election (to put things simply). The fact that they have to work with an inferior system is largely not their fault and I know from direct experience that they do everything they can to ensure that everything goes well.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.