WPCNR THE   DAILY BAILEY. By John F. Bailey. May 22, 2008: Taking note of the 97 Million votes cast in determining last night’s American Idol champ, it is obvious that we do not need voting machines any more. The sure way to increase the accessibility and ease of voting is to devise ways to expand the voting universe.  If you can have credit card commerce on the internet with passwords, you can vote with passwords. Bill Gates could be our Board of Elections go-to guy.

Preposturous? Absolutely not. In the 2004 Presidential election 121 Million people voted. In last night’s American Idol “election” 97 million people voted in something utterly without relevance.

How About Online Voting for Elections? If you can buy online, you can vote online!

WPCNR THE   DAILY BAILEY. By John F. Bailey. May 22, 2008: Taking note of the 97 Million votes cast in determining last night’s American Idol champ, it is obvious that we do not need voting machines any more. The sure way to increase the accessibility and ease of voting is to devise ways to expand the voting universe.  If you can have credit card commerce on the internet with passwords, you can vote with passwords. Bill Gates could be our Board of Elections go-to guy.

Preposturous? Absolutely not. In the 2004 Presidential election 121 Million people voted. In last night’s American Idol “election” 97 million people voted in something utterly without relevance.

Think what this could mean on the local level!  2,109 persons of some 25,000 registered voters in White Plains voted. Parents with children in the school system who could vote, voted for the budget and narrowly got it through by 105 votes. All the negativism expressed that “I’m going to vote it down this year” failed to materialize. It was raining. Persons obviously were not motivated enough to save themselves $14 to $30  in taxes this year.

 Suppose just suppose all registered voters were assigned individual passwords for each election to vote on a election website for White Plains which would then flash the votes to the county Board of Elections! Absentee balloting would be done away with. Ballots could be sent out by e-mail, with “Election Machine” graphics for nostalgia buffs.

“Turnout,” would skyrocket! No longer would school districts across the state conveniently run their own elections with their own personnel with no independent oversight (as is the case in White Plains). As WPCNR observed and confirmed last year school districts can have elections on general election days as long as they have separate voting machines. However, none do. Why? Turnout too many people would vote.  Far be it to even suggest this, but it is easy to fix an election result when you are the one counting the results and looking at the back of the voting machines.

Albany’s footdragging on election machines is another great example of why devising an online system for voting would make sense. Though it would not be good for government patronage positions.

Everybody is arguing about the ease of voting, and the need for a paper trail. There is A PAPER TRAIL in internet sales which are rapidly becoming a major threat to retail. Sure you print out a receipt. Well each person could print out a ballot receipt. It would be a more reliable paper trail.

Think it out: every registered voter in WP could be given a password. A website is set up and votes cast from all over the world with passwords and security codes. Demographic Trends could be very easy analyze. Results in as votes are cast.

Of course, I am just looking at this like a cowboy riding by on a fast horse -- but why not?

Election machines are obsolete -- ripe for rigging. The internet is the way of the future.