(iverson's) currentbuzz: Next step -- fix this or just forget the secret ballot?

This isn't vote caging, this is total voting transparency. This would be one of the only times when I would say transparency is unwanted, unhelpful, and should be illegal. By matching public records in Ohio, a privacy activist has been able to see how particular individuals voted. This isn't a conspiracy, but just a confluence of technologies bumping up against each other and becoming, as McLuhan always said, "disruptive."

For reporters, I think this story can provide story ideas. Is your state or precinct at risk? With this outline of the problem ought to let other reporters go out there and investigate this thoroughly. url="http://news.com.com/E-voting+predicament+Not-so-secret+ballots/2100-1014_3-6203323.html"]Ohio law permits anyone to walk into a county election office and obtain two crucial documents: a list of voters in the order they voted, and a time-stamped list of the actual votes. "We simply take the two pieces of paper together, merge them, and then we have which voter voted and in which way," said James Moyer, a longtime privacy activist and poll worker who lives in Columbus, Ohio.[/q]

Irony alert: if you don't get the irony, you haven't been paying attention to security threats to fair elections and Diebold's role in several election debacles:

Diebold Election Systems (now Premier Election Solutions), said they don't for security and privacy reasons: "We're very sensitive to the integrity of the process."

Source: news.com.com