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Google search results now include full localized ballot info
Google has been putting election-related information right at its users' fingertips in recent months -- the company made it easier to register to vote, has state-specific details on how to vote right in search results and it now highlights fact-checking stories in Google News. The latest addition to Google's slate of voter tools is localized polling place and ballot information. Searching for "who's on my ballot" will bring up results tailored to your location, and you can tap or click on the names to find out more details about each candidate.
New Hampshire judge makes 'ballot selfies' legal again
Voters in New Hampshire are once again free to take "ballot selfies" after a judge struck down one of the silliest laws ever enacted. Yes, folks actually take pictures of their ballots and share them on Facebook. But if you're proud of who you voted for or just the act of voting, what's the harm? That's not how legislators in New Hampshire see it at all, though. They figure that such people are surely selling their votes and using the photo as proof of the deed. To back it up, the state enacted a bill banning ballot photos last September, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.
Google will tell you who your local General Election candidates are
The manifestos are out and party leaders are busy touring the country. Even tech companies are doing what they can to help you choose a side ahead of next month's General Election. Twitter rolled out its political emoji, lovingly referred to as "hashflags", earlier this month, but Google's just launched a valuable resource that tells you all of the election candidates in your area. If you pull up a Google search and enter the words "who is on the uk ballot," the search giant will ask you to enter your postcode or constituency before displaying an alphabetic list of all the candidates gunning for your vote. As expected, the 2015 Election campaign has been the most web-friendly yet -- it's just a shame online voting won't happen any time soon.
Estonia to allow citizens to vote via cellphone by 2011
Brutal honesty here: on election day this past November, the entire Engadget staff (well, those of us with US passports) collectively agreed that casting our vote via SMS or some other incredibly simple method would be infinitely more awesome than trudging out in the streets and waiting in hour-long lines. Clearly, some higher-ups in Estonia are on board with that concept, as its Parliament has approved a law that will likely make it the first nation on Planet Earth to give citizens the right to vote by phone in something that matters (American Idol notwithstanding). 'Course, those who choose to take advantage must first obtain a free authorization chip for their handset, which sort of kills the whole "not having to leave your house" aspect of all this. Ah well, at least we're moving in the right direction.
US chooses two hopefuls to review for future e-voting tests
Just days after the US government decided to bar Ciber from testing anymore e-voting terminals due to its perpetual negligence, it now seems that a pair of Colorado-based outfits are next in line to take over those duties. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recently recommended that iBeta Quality Assurance and SysTest Labs "be granted final clearance to test the systems" after a "comprehensive technical evaluation of the laboratories' processes based on the international standard ISO/IEC 17025, which covers general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories." Now it seems the final hammer resides in the hands of the US Election Assistance Commission, which is "a federal agency that has sole authority to grant full accreditation to the labs." SysTest Labs isn't new to this e-voting QA game, as the firm was already granted "interim" accreditation and is now awaiting the official seal to keep up the (presumably) good work. Notably, the EAC stated that they would be focusing their efforts now on "non-technical issues such as conflict of interest policies, organizational structure, and record-keeping protocols," but we're not so confident all the hardware checks are as robust as they should be just yet. Nevertheless, we shouldn't count on hearing anything final for quite some time, as this apparently lengthy "review process" somehow takes between 9 and 18 months to complete, so in the meantime we'll just see how many more Americans ditch the whole "voting" idea due to issues like voting in triplicate, getting distracted by board games, or simply obliterating their machine in frustration. [Warning: PDF read link][Via Slashdot]
Texas e-voting machines count votes three times for good measure
If you thought that November 7th was the final day that you'd hear about e-voting zaniness, you'd be incorrect. While a myriad of states (and foreign locales) have had their bouts with Diebold and other electronic voting machines, the internet hunting state is now reporting an oddity of its own. Apparently, voters using machines built by Election Systems and Software in Williamson County, Texas showed up three separate times to legally cast their votes for the same candidate, or performed some sort of "human malfunction" in order to make the machines think so, anyway. While we're inclined to think that the actual machines were the culprit, the company still insists that some form of "user error" caused each vote placed to be counted three times. Although the triplicates did not skew the percentages of votes cast for each candidate, it still seemingly signifies an apparent flaw in the e-voting system, yet election officials were quoted as saying that they'd "review their training procedures" -- you know, so we can all work together to circumvent the problem.[Via TechDirt]
Punchscan incorporates cryptography into e-voting
Considering the disaster that has been e-voting, we're not surprised to see another firm stepping forward with a slightly less complex alternative to confidently casting your ballot. Reverting back to the less problematic methods of paper-and-pencil voting, yet offering up a way to electronically store and track each vote, David Chaum and his research team have unveiled the Punchscan system to hopefully solve the world's e-voting woes. The cryptographic solution involves a double-sided ballot which is split into two halves using a hole punch, giving you one side to take home. The "receipt" reportedly doesn't disclose which candidate you voted for, and allows you to logon once home to verify that your vote was indeed cast, and cast for the intended party. So if you're worried that your hard-earned vote may be heading to File 13 rather than being counted, maybe you should start politicking to get Punchscan going in your neck of the woods, and if you're still confused about how this two-faced encryption dealio works, just peep the video, yeah?[Via Slashdot]
Which GDC Awards nominees we ended up voting for
All right, this blogger's ballot's been cast, and now it's time to share.In the interests of a stronger vote--that will actually make a difference--I made two choices in each category below (as the system allowed you to vote for as many or as few of the nominees as you wished). We'll see how well I picked at the Game Developers Choice Awards on March 22nd.Ultimately, my choices listed here came down to personal preference and subjective evaluation, so there are bound to be some votes that don't mesh with what you would have chosen. Whatever the case, please note that my eventual choices are not necessarily indicative of what Joystiq as a whole, or the other writers who blog for this site, would have voted for. (So don't blame them!) But enough of that... on to the ballot!
