French MP Francois Fillon promised the nationalisation of electronic voting if he's elected in this year's presidential elections, and while many disagree for various reasons — with security topping the list — let's have a look at the benefits and drawbacks of electronic voting.
Benefits of electronic voting
Electronic voting is above all praised for being a faster method than physical voting, especially when it comes to counting. Results come almost instantaneously after the closing of voting centers. In addition, people are more likely to vote online than visit voting centers, increasing on one hand participation and decreasing on the other hand frauds related to absenteism.
For the time being, machines are only found in voting centers abroad. Expatriates can thus practice their civil right while living abroad. But thanks to technology developments, we wouldn't be surprised to see in the near future electronic voting being extended to the internet. Electronic voting results are said to be far more reliable, as there are far less chances for vote bulletins to go amiss. For the environment conscious citizens, it's not little to say that electronic voting is also environmentally friendly, as it doesn't involve so much paper.
Another benefit of electronic voting is that it's less demanding for human resource — sometimes it can be quite difficult to find volunteers and supervising officers. One cannot deny the fact that innovation is definitely a plus for any democracy.
Risks of electronic voting
Experts have also been discussing about the drawbacks of electronic voting since some time. Security is one of the main issues that has to be addressed and tackled before implementing such an innovation. To date, no online system has ever been 100% protected from hackers. Although technology is now an essential part of everyday life, we cannot completely rely on a machine, and consider it totally accurate and perfect.
Whether or not we are versed with information technology, we're entrusting our vote and future to a machine and to the company in service. It also means that there's no visible follow up as to the outcome of the whole operation, whereas in the case of ballots we can witness the bulletins being inserted.
There is also the risk of a virus being deliberately spread into the system. In the case of the ballot, the whole counting operation is performed under close supervision. Once the counting has been verified and finalised, results are communicated to the public in transparency. But with electronic voting, you can't be totally sure that no fraud in whatsoever form has been committed.
Many countries are still skeptical regarding electronic voting, and many have chosen to abort this system given its controversial results. Experts highly recommend the setting up of adequate security systems to complement electronic voting.
Geneva: A model case study
Geneva was one of the first regions to introduce the electronic voting system. Among the world's democratic countries, Switzerland used to have rather low participation to elections — around 50%. The electronic voting system mainly aimed at increasing the participation rate, and the idea was welcomed by the population. According to a public survey, 90% of voters in Geneva, especially those aged less than 50, are in favor of this system and wish it to remain.
Against major legal and social challenges that cropped up, Geneva decided to set up an electoral commission for electronic voting with the contribution of political parties and government representatives. One of the measures was to make sure that the confirmation message sent to voters does not include any information about their vote in order to ensure transparency.
Estonia: A success story
Estonia is one of the few countries to have introduced eletronic voting on a national level thanks to its fully developed electoral system. Thanks to the wide internet availability, more and more people have been voting in elections during the past years. Electronic voting was first introduced in 2005 for municipal elections, and ever since the government has set up an adequate framework along with laws defining the electronic voting mechanism for each type of election.
The UK says no to electronic voting
In the United Kingdom on the other hand, electronic voting was abandonned due to failure — or maybe due to high expectations. Several methods have been tested by the electoral commission with the aim of assessing participation among different age groups, especially the youth, and of bringing trust among British voters. Despite thorough research work, the government finally decided to terminate all pilot projects in 2007 for several reasons — cyber security and low global participation are some of them. Following alleged cyber attack during the recent American elections, the UK government indicated that is has no plan to introduce electronic voting in the near future.
Leave us a comment: Has electronic voting been introduced into the country you come from? Is electronic voting a fair system for expats who care about the future of their country?
