A requirements spec for voting
In software development, we start with a "requirements specification" defining what the software is supposed to do. Voting machine security is often in the news, with suspicion the Russians are trying to subvert our elections. Would blockchain or mobile phone voting work? I don't know. These things have tradeoffs that may or may not work, depending upon what the requirements are. I haven't seen the requirements written down anywhere. So I thought I'd write some.One requirement is that the results of an election must seem legitimate. That's why responsible candidates have a "concession speech" when they lose. When John McCain lost the election to Barack Obama, he started his speech with:
"My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama — to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love."This was important. Many of his supporters were pointing out irregularities in various states, wanting to continue the fight. But there are always irregularities, or things that look like irregularities. In every election, if a Continue reading
