Well, I think I voted in tomorrow’s U.S. midterm elections. In addition to being taxed on my worldwide income, voting in elections is one of the perks of holding an American passport.

But frankly, I cannot say for certain that my vote will be properly counted. A few years back I shifted my U.S. state of voting residence from California to Arizona. To their credit, the Arizona Secretary of State’s election commission conveniently offers a facility to upload my ballot online via a dedicated web site.

The experience required a substantial allocation of time, patience, and perseverance. It also left me embarrassed for the country’s antiquated voting technology systems.

In what I have come to refer to as “Equifax security practices,” the Arizona Secretary of State’s office sent me my online ballot login and password details in open text inside an unencrypted email.

Perhaps the mitigating factor to this disconcerting lapse in basic security protocol was that my login credentials didn’t work.

Following several interactions with the fine folks at the Arizona county office (and the individuals with whom I interacted were genuinely courteous and clearly not personally at fault), we finally resolved the situation and re-issued me new login credentials which appeared to function.

Unfortunately, with the current state of technology deployed in these systems, I will have no way of ever knowing with certainty.