Casting multiple votes: should that possibility arise?
Democracy has to be built on the fundamental principle that NO VOTER VOTES MORE THAN ONCE. Failure to uphold that principle renders any election a farce. But just how hard does our government try to prevent multiple votes being cast by one voter during national elections? Does government employ all measures at its disposal to stop this malaise from distorting our election results? A cursory look at some current operations under government systems suggests that even without resorting to the electronic voting machine (EVM) government can prevent a voter from VOTING MORE THAN ONCE.
Yesterday I mistakenly tried to pay road license for my vehicle at the Department of Road Services and Safety (DRTS). I had assumed that my vehicle road license expires at end of December, like so many other licenses do. However, on entering my vehicle's number into the computer, the licensing cashier told me that my current license is still valid, and that THEIR SYSTEMS HAVE NO PROVISION FOR ACCEPTING MORE THAN ONE PAYMENT PER YEAR! In other words, government's systems know and will warn you that your vehicle's road tax is already paid for.
The government routinely pays thousands and thousands of people either in its employ or as contractors. Such people range from civil servants to security personnel, to politicians (MPs, councillors and tenderpreneurs) and to contractors. Government would like us (taxpayers) to believe, and we have no reason to doubt government's assertion, that payments to these individuals are NEVER erroneously repeated. Certainly while I was a civil servant, I never received two salaries for any one month! It does not matter where you get transferred to, your salary will be paid ONLY ONCE in a month.
Given all these "fool-proof" checks and monitors, the question that arises is: why does government, through the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) fear that some people COULD VOTE MORE THAN ONCE IN NEXT YEAR'S GENERAL ELECTION? What prevents government from deploying the same mechanisms that stop people getting paid twice; the same mechanisms that stop people paying road license twice, into stopping people VOTING TWICE?
Yesterday I mistakenly tried to pay road license for my vehicle at the Department of Road Services and Safety (DRTS). I had assumed that my vehicle road license expires at end of December, like so many other licenses do. However, on entering my vehicle's number into the computer, the licensing cashier told me that my current license is still valid, and that THEIR SYSTEMS HAVE NO PROVISION FOR ACCEPTING MORE THAN ONE PAYMENT PER YEAR! In other words, government's systems know and will warn you that your vehicle's road tax is already paid for.
The government routinely pays thousands and thousands of people either in its employ or as contractors. Such people range from civil servants to security personnel, to politicians (MPs, councillors and tenderpreneurs) and to contractors. Government would like us (taxpayers) to believe, and we have no reason to doubt government's assertion, that payments to these individuals are NEVER erroneously repeated. Certainly while I was a civil servant, I never received two salaries for any one month! It does not matter where you get transferred to, your salary will be paid ONLY ONCE in a month.
Given all these "fool-proof" checks and monitors, the question that arises is: why does government, through the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) fear that some people COULD VOTE MORE THAN ONCE IN NEXT YEAR'S GENERAL ELECTION? What prevents government from deploying the same mechanisms that stop people getting paid twice; the same mechanisms that stop people paying road license twice, into stopping people VOTING TWICE?
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