In favour
The common
denominator in the seven countries discussed in the previous section, is the fact that they wish
to make it easier for their citizens abroad to participate in national
elections and referendums. In that respect, external electors are considered to
be one of the most suitable target groups for remote e-voting, since there is
no comparable voting channel fully available for them that would be as comfortable
and as accessible. Postal voting—the channel that is probably most comparable
to remote e-voting—does not offer the same benefits, since postal services are
sometimes too slow for delivering the ballot paper before voting day and thus
some external electors are prevented from voting. Other voting channels, such
as voting at an embassy or diplomatic mission, are not as convenient for the
voter, since he or she needs to go to a certain place during certain hours. The
overall thought behind making it easier for external electors to vote in
elections and referendums is, of course, to increase voter participation and
thus strengthen democratic legitimacy.
Apart from
convenience to external electors, there are other reasons in favour of remote
e-voting.
1. In some
cases, citizens living or staying abroad are considered to be an ideal test
group for remote e-voting, while the real intention is to introduce this new
method for electors inside the country as well.
2. In some
cases, citizens abroad are well organized—even better organized than interest
groups inside a country—and capable of formulating their needs and putting them
onto the agenda.
3.
Depending on the circumstances and the other voting channels available for
external electors, remote e-voting might save costs.
Against
Because by
and large only those countries that are considering the introduction of remote
e-voting provide information on the subject, there are only a few arguments to
be found against the introduction of remote e-voting for external electors.
These reasons include:
1. Security
concerns. However, there are no special security concerns with specific
regard to remote e-voting for external electors. Rather, it is remote e-voting
as such that is considered to be not secure. The security concerns include
doubts about the Internet as a means of transmission of confidential
information, fear of hacker attacks—both by insiders (e.g. software
programmers) and by outsiders (e.g. political parties, terrorists or other
states)—and anxiety about the possibility of undue influence being exerted on
the voter during the voting process (e.g. ‘family voting’).
2. Financial
aspects. It may be costly to build the infrastructure for providing remote
e-voting only to a limited number of electors. The expensive items can be the
building of a digitized, harmonized register of external electors or the
maintenance of security of the system.
3. Equal
treatment of all electors (external and internal). In Switzerland for
instance, the government says that if remote e-voting is introduced it has to
be done on a step-by-step basis. It should be introduced for ‘internal’
electors first and only after that for external electors. The reason behind
this is that there is no centralized electoral register for external electors. External electors from one canton should not be able to
vote electronically while those from another canton do not have this
opportunity.
The
Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) answers the question ‘Can I vote via the
Internet?’ on its website as follows:
- The introduction of internet or
computerised voting is not a feasible proposition at this time, as a
number of security, technical, financial, access and equity issues have to
be solved before it could become a fact of electoral life.
- There is no appropriate
software technology for use in full preferential voting system.
- Many voters, especially the
elderly and those with poor literacy and numeracy skills may have
difficulty with using the internet.
- There is a risk of fraud and
errors occurring in software without the safeguard of paper ballots to
recount.
- Start up costs would be
significant.
- The AEC would need to continue
to provide traditional voting facilities for those with no internet
access.
However,
Australian electors in Australia
have been able to use polling place e-voting for elections to the Australian
Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. In 2001 and 2004, e-voting was
available at four pre-polling voting centres over a two- to three-week period
and at eight polling places on polling day itself.
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