Electoral Systems, Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machines
Abstract This article explores the assemblage of voting: electoral systems, Direct Recording Electronic voting machines (DREs), ballots and ballot booths, and the central role of secrecy. Its aim is to argue that the contemporary political subjectivity of deliberation is intimately tied up with this assem- blage. Based on ethnographic research, this article shows how controversies around DREs can reveal the ways in which the very possibility for delibera- tion is tied to the structure and implementation of these machines. It argues for a new approach to deliberation that includes debate, participation and co-construction of the technical systems whereby we vote, as well as those where we express opinions. Towards an Anthropology of Deliberation Christopher M. Kelty 1 October 2008 1University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Information Studies and the Center for Society and Genetics) introduction A political scientist, a cognitive scientist, and a computer scientist walk into a room. What sounds like the beginning of a bad joke|something about the anxiety of requiring the word \science" in the job title|was actually a class that I participated in, in the Fall of 2006, called \Election Systems, Technologies and Administration" (see Fig 1). The class combined approaches from cognitive science, political science and computer science{but it wasn't necessarily an attempt to combine them into a coherent approach. Rather voting and elections were subjected to an array of approaches, as the course description made clear: \how individuals interact with technology," \how technologies are engineered to be secure and accurate" and \how the social aspects of voting fulfill democratic goals for elections." These approaches covered human factors engineering, human- computer interaction and cognitive models of information processing, com- puter security research, election outcomes analysis, voting behavior and so on.
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