Friday, January 30, 2015

Press enter to continue...

A Commons committee has suggested that for the general election after this one (2020 or thereabouts) you should have the option of voting online.  The immediate response has concentrated on the possibility of such a site being hacked or manipulated and on the potential insecurity of personal data, and certainly the government has a pretty deplorable track-record when it comes to running internet sites.  But I have another concern and it has nothing to do with the security or otherwise of doing things online. I've commented before on what I see as the dangers involved in relaxing the rules surrounding postal voting and I see this as a further step down the same bad road.  I think if you wish to be taken seriously, you should have to make a conscious effort to vote.  If you are incapable for whatever reason of getting to the polling station on the day, then you should be allowed a postal vote, as you always were, but other than that if you can't be bothered to get off your backside then I think your opinion - assuming you have one - should be ignored.  By all means change voting day to a Sunday, or make voting day a public holiday, but at least require would-be voters to have to do more than exercise their finger.

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