Is there a perfect online polling system?
I wanted to create a poll on this blog and then I realized that there is no such thing as a perfect poll! The main problem is, how do you prevent bogus or duplicate votes?
Many existing polling systems use IP address to identify duplicate votes. But this eliminates a lot of valid votes! For example, 1000+ employees at my office use the same proxy server and hence to the polling system will appear as a single voter!
Also different IP addresses can never guarantee perfect polls. Methods used for internet anonymity such as Tor can be misused for bogus voting.
Other methods used are the cookie method and the email verification method. Both these are not fraud proof. Cookies can be easily deleted and multiple email ids can be easily created.
What we need is an internet identity which probably links to something like a passport number!
During my search for a perfect polling system, I came across this link. It claims to build a fraud proof voting system. But in reality it is probably the worst voting system!
April 10th, 2007 20:12
With internet polling, you have to make a choice. You can either have anonymity or you can have a fair one-for-one vote. You have to pick one because the two are mutually exclusive.