Write to us at devnullpodcast@protonmail.com On the heels of the 2020 U.S. Election in the United States the Dev Null Podcast team discusses the history of U.S. elections and the technology used to tally the votes. From voice votes to iPads, Hanging Chads to why we vote on a Tuesday in November and everything in between we discuss where we were and where we seem to be headed. In addition we take a look at other democratic countries and compare and contrast the voter experience. During our research we discovered many interesting and funny historical anecdotes. We hope you enjoy! History of Voting and Election Techhttps://www.history.com/news/voting-elections-ballots-electronic Candidates—including George Washington—plied voters with booze "You might grab a drink with friends on Election Day, but your day probably doesn’t include as much booze as it often did back in the day. And even if it does, it definitely doesn’t include booze provided by the candidates. In colonial times, however, it might have. Although it was technically illegal to bribe voters, many politicians brought food and drinks to the polls to offer their constituents; even a young George Washington participated. According to History.com, when Washington ran for the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758, he doled out enough alcohol to stock a small bar: 47 gallons of beer, 35 gallons of wine, 2 gallons of cider, 3.5 pints of brandy, and 70 gallons of rum punch. Unsurprisingly, he won by a landslide with 310 votes. Get ready for this year’s election by reading these" https://votingmachines.procon.org/historical-timeline/ "The outcome of the 1800 contest between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams was so bizarre, the United States had to amend the Constitution." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1800_United_States_presidential_election https://artsandculture.google.com/story/KQLClqo-P40LJQ Why do we vote on a Tuesday in NovemberBetween 1788 and 1845, states pretty much decided their own voting dates Why do we vote on Tues https://www.rd.com/article/why-vote-tuesday-november/ Election day used to be a holidayElection Day was one of the biggest holidays of the year Today, some companies might give workers off for Election Day, but it isn’t the major holiday it used to be. In early America, colonists believed Election Day was one of the most important annual holidays, and they celebrated it as such. “Shops and schools were closed, and town inhabitants, dressed in their finery, gathered in the marketplace,” writes Kelly. “Especially in port towns, the residents were usually joined by visitors who wanted to observe the celebration. In communities where nearby Indian tribes were friendly, sometimes an Indian chief, dressed in ceremonial garb, came to town to witness the holiday.” Some experts say modern American elections could benefit from reintroducing some of this fanfare. “Declaring Election Day a federal holiday and rekindling the celebratory spirit that marked the day in previous centuries would be an important step toward promoting democratic participation,” wrote Holly Jackson, author of American Radicals: How Nineteenth-Century Protest Shaped the Nation, for the Washington Post in 2018. “But we must also depart from our history to create an inclusive Election Day in which all Americans can take part.” Next, find out the truth about ballot safety from a mail carrier. Digital Voting Around the WorldEstonia: https://www.valimised.ee/sites/default/files/uploads/eng/IVXV-UK-1.0-eng.pdf As many votes/ballots as you want per user (last one is valid)Voting 10th-4th day before electionsCertificate validation (checksums, thumbprints, etc.)It has been made possible because most Estonians carry a national identity card equipped with a computer-readable microchip and it is these cards which they use to get access to the online ballot. All a voter needs is a computer, an electronic card reader, their ID card and its PIN, and they can vote from anywhere in the world. Estonian e-votes can only be cast during the days of advance voting. On election day itself people have to go to polling stations and fill in a paper ballot.Source code is published 3 weeks before electionhttps://jhalderm.com/pub/papers/ivoting-ccs14.pdf Malta: https://edri.org/our-work/massive-political-data-leak-in-malta/ Data leak… copy of db put on a public web, indexed by googleSwitzerland: Started in 2003Costs for just Zurich area 11.2M CHF (10 million EUR). Estimated cost for whole country 400-600M CHFhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_Switzerland
