Voting: Could the system be any more stuffed?

[balthazarr]

Just got back from voting in the council elections. Apart from the fact I think compulsory voting is ridiculous... I wanted to rant about the incredible inefficiency and the huge potential for errors in our current system...

:
Last election, I received a letter from the Electoral Commission asking me to please explain (in a stat dec) why I didn't vote.

The election before that, I received a letter asking me to explain why I had committed fraud, and voted three times. :

I wrote back to them advising that I did vote - both times only once, and if their system wasn't flawed, they would know that.

Eg:
* They require NO ID when crossing you off the roll, so anyone can say they are anyone else.
* The typeface used on the roll books is tiny, and it's very easy for them to rule a line through the wrong name (the person above or below your name).
* You have to vote in your local area, otherwise fill out a special form and put in an 'absentee' vote, etc.

These problems can all be solved easily and simply... the roll is already computerised, just stick a couple of computers there - they ask for your id, put in your name and suburb, tick a box and it's done. Most polling places are schools, so there are already computers in place.

That would also allow you to vote at any polling booth, because they don't have phonebook-sized roll books, but a central database. Not to mention saving bucket loads of paper/ink/money in printing costs alone (which we as taxpayers all pay for).

I understand the concerns on electronic voting - just look at Diebold in the US for example - but surely nobody can object to an electronic roll?