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Lemmy votes ARE public, should they be anonymous? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Currently, almost anyone in the Fediverse can see Lemmys votes. Lemmy admins can see votes, as well as mods. Only regular Lemmy users can't. Should the Lemmy devs create a way to make the votes anonymous?

There is a discussion going on right now considering "making the Lemmy votes public" but I think that premisse is just wrong. The votes are public already, they're just hidden from Lemmy users. Anyone from a kbin/mbin/fedia instance can check out the votes if they are so inclined.

The users right now may fall into a false sense of privacy when voting because the votes are hidden from Lemmy users. If you want to vote something and not show up on the vote list, please create another account to support that type of content and don't tell anyone.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago (2 children)

As a comment on the other discussion says, there's a reason ballots are secret.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

In reality you should be able to get an anonymized reference number to show your vote was tabulated correctly though.

Right now it comes down to an actual official finding your paper ballot with hand marked tracking and presuming the computer read it correctly on an overall vote total.

Being able to do this anonymously and securely is where the problems lie. Which is also why digital only voting still isn't a thing anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

In reality you should be able to get an anonymized reference number to show your vote was tabulated correctly though.

The reason there is no such thing in elections, is to prevent vote buying/extortion.

In Italy it's such an extreme problem that any ballot where the party is not marked with a cross on the party logo and (if present) a block capital name next to it on the provided line, is automatically discounted, because stuff like writing a name a specific way or using crosses, checks, dots, or other symbols was used to track vote buying/voter intimidation in mafia controlled territories.

Some vote counters and polling station overseers would be on the take and keep track of if the votes they expected to see showed up when counting ballots and report back.

If you were able in any way to prove something beyond the equivalent of an "I voted" sticker it would immediately be used to ensure people voted a certain way or to exact some sort of backlash on those who didn't.