Voting in Light of Technology

Regarding the use of approved and secure smartphone app, I believe that the election process will experience some irregularities. With this election system, the physical environment and the client machines are not controlled by the election officials; therefore, manipulation of figures would be more prevalent. Due to the lack of physical representation and use of an electronic system, it would be easy for hackers to manipulate the numbers thus interfering with the accuracy and documentation of the results (Watts, 2010). However, the use of smartphone app is convenient and would lead to an increase in the number of registered voters. Similarly, the expense to the government would decrease.

The method that would be best suited to counting votes is the majority rule. When using this method, the candidate with the most votes wins the election (Watts, 2010). The majority rule portrays fairness because of the principle of anonymity. In the principle of anonymity, the identity of the voter is not known, and they are treated identically (Watts, 2010). Also, with neutrality, there is equality in the treatment of each alternative.

The use of the majority rule cannot be considered truly secure. The government finds it hard to guarantee security to the voting process using the majority rule. The method is vulnerable to automated voter selling scheme that will change the outcome of an election. However, the majority rule offers some security since it does not give privilege to voters to count for more (Watts, 2010). Similarly, it does not provide an opportunity to an alternative by requiring them to provide fewer votes for it to pass.

The unintended consequence of majority rule is that a simple majority of people are allowed to make decisions. Even if the proposed policy has adverse effects, it will still pass given that the number of winners is more than the number of losers. Second, with the tyranny of the majority, group decisions can split along gender lines, religion or race thus causing problems (Watts, 2010). The majority groups will make policies that will benefit themselves.

 

Reference

Watts, D. (2010). Dictionary of American government and politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

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