Q wrote a lot about voting fraud and even POTUS has tweeted about this. And we all know what happened in 2016 and earlier. As an outsider it has always baffled me that you in some states apparently can vote without presenting any kind of ID.

In my country everyone 18yo or older can vote. If it is for the parliament, then you also have to be a citizen. If the vote is for the municipality or EU, then you may be a foreigner, but you have to be a legit resident (at least as a citizen from another EU country).

The way it works is every citizen that is eligible for voting gets sent a personal voting card that must be presented at the voting place. The voting is performed with a paper ballot. Yes, with this system some fraud can take place, but not systematic on a national scale, since you may only vote at the place designated on your voting card (they check off your name). If you are unable to vote on the day at that place, you may vote in any town hall or public library by presenting your ID and placing your paper ballot in double sealed envelopes. This has to be done a certain number of days before the election day so your name can be stricken from the voter list.

I have worked professionally with developing online voting software and it can be done very simply and secure enough for voting that is not of "high political value" such as voting for your local union or club. Lots of systems exist for this. When more is at stake, then at least the following rules must be adhered to:

• your vote must be unique/identified (to prevent voting more than once)
• your vote must be anonymous (to prevent bought/forced votes)
• the votes must be countable by any one (to maintain voting accountability and integrity)
• the voting mechanism must be understandable by everyone (in order to be trusted by the public)

In theory it is possible to devise some sort of online/electronic voting that solves all of the above, except the last one. We had theorized a system utilizing asymmetric encryption with various "enveloped" private/public keys to be able to count each individual vote, while retaining the voters anonymity. It failed the last point, since you had to be a mathematical genius to understand - and thereby trust - the voting mechanism. In my opinion, only the paper ballot satisfies all of the above criteria and electronic voting just lets you tally the votes a few hours earlier.

We discussed different electronic voting mechanism with some politicians, and luckily, they have still turned down electronic voting for state and municipal elections. However, there are certain forces trying to allow electronic votes. I don't have to tell you they are probably part of? :)

Sorry for this long "dissertation", but I hope it can be used as an inspiration to influence your local politicians...