Thursday 17 June 2010

Changing Your EGM Vote

It appears that a number of BCS members who have now had chance to see both sides of the debate wish to change their vote.

The Electroral Reform Society, the independent body running the voting on behalf of BCS, have therefore provided he following information.

"Should someone wish to alter their vote, they should notify us by emailing onlinevoting@electoralreform.co.uk. We will be able to reset a person’s security codes and they will then be able to login again and resubmit their proxy form. Similarly, we can also re-issue a paper ballot and remove the original from the count."

8 comments:

  1. BCS have also covered this in their FAQs on the EGM site: http://yourfuture.bcs.org/server.php?show=conWebDoc.35685

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is practically an invitation for fraud to occur. It was bad enough that both parts of the "security" code went out in the same e-mail and postal pack - now they are going to allow unverified changes to votes ?

    Pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why is it unverified & pathetic?
    We are professionals and not some result fixing Russian mafia.
    AndyJ

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think pathetic is a little strong. There are always chances for fraud in open systems. There is no such thing as perfect security. People do need the opportunity to vote correctly after being fully informed. I particularly object to the "Quick Vote" option appearing. I think this may help increase turnout but does nothing to inform voters.

    ReplyDelete
  5. at least they require an email from you after which they can reset your details which you then have to re-enter - not just any old 'click here to change your vote' button.

    i agree with anonymous(!) above re the quick vote. it's like "here, just agree with the people being accused of negligence, and everything will be ok"

    in fact i wouldn't worry about the potential for unverified changes through the login details, so much as the conflict of interest in the vote being run by one of the parties in the dispute - i'm wondering who has admin access over the vote database....

    ReplyDelete
  6. The vote database is managed by the electorial reform society - i have no concerns over this. The 'quick vote' is far more worrying, it's an open invite to blindly accept something decided by somebody else. Social engineering. It steals the votes from those too busy to read all the options, and those who feel they must vote but are indifferent or uninformed as to the options.

    ReplyDelete
  7. In note a new email reminder has just been dispatched. The top item is of course the "combo vote in favour of the BCS stance".

    IMHO this is a dangerous option to give on any voting form, particularly given the propensity of a person to choose the first available option on any document just to "clear the problem away".

    ReplyDelete
  8. Could someone please provide a brief summary of what happened in the end at the EGM? I had to leave early. John M.

    ReplyDelete