Do you value political privacy?

[Tango]

Don't you think you have the right to privacy in your voting? Isn't that why there are voting "booths"? I guess in the age of absentee balloting, etc, some of this is lost. Have you ever experienced intimidation or coercion because of who you want to vote for? It's always been out there. It's historical. It's obviously wrong. Sometimes subtle, sometimes right in your face. Don't ask, don't tell exists in many areas of life, but how threatened do some have to feel. This article brings it to the forefront:

http://www.privacy.org/archives/001376.html

October 13, 2004
Military Voters' Ballot Privacy Threatened
Service men and women from North Dakota and Missouri currently, serving overseas have been offered voting options by those states that promote the use of e-mail and fax machines. The proposal would allow military voters to send in completed ballots, which will necessarily associate the name of the voter with each ballot submitted in this way, to an office in the Pentagon. With decisions regarding promotions and assignments made by superiors this decision places special focus on the importance of a secret ballot. The reason the secret ballot is so important is the history of voter intimidation and coercion that have occurred in the past.


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We each get one vote. Use it wisely. Hopefully no one will coerce you.

[dissention]

If someone wants to keep their vote private, more power to them. But I see no point in it. I'm voting for Kerry, loudly and proudly, and I'll gladly broadcast it for everyone to hear. The only people who want to keep their votes private are the people who vote for losing candidates.

We had a nice Ledge poll a few months ago asking people who they were voting for. By golly, could you believe that out of 10 Bush lovers, only one identified themselves? Cowards!

[amber]

I think his point was that the taking away of privacy of the votes leads to possible coersion, and well, bad things for the person who voted. Not that a person was shy about his vote, but that they feared possible repercussion..

[WaterDragon]

I can understand the concern. However, I think it's a really good idea. I was in the military for 10 years, and for the 4 years I was active duty, I didn't vote once. I was out to sea for a good 6-10 months a year, and the task of filling out the paperwork for an absentee ballot seemed laborious and unappealing, and I know most of the people on my ship felt the same way. If I had the option of emailing in a vote with the loss of my anonymity, I probably would have voted. As a member of the service, it's not like the government doesn't already know practically everything about you anyway, so I don't really think it would make a difference for most members whether or not their vote was anonymous. I DO think that members should still be given the option of sending in an absentee ballot if they would be more comfortable with that. But I think the email/fax option is a really good idea.

I can also say that at no point did I ever feel forced/coerced to vote for anyone, or that voting for one person over another would lead to any negative actions. We were all pretty open with one another about who we would like to see win and discussed politics openly, even if we disagreed. I can only speak for myself, though.

Em