Voting technology implementation
Kai R. T. Larsen · Communications of the ACM · 1999
This article examines two cases of electronic voting implementations: one in the U.S. and one in Europe. The first case describes the technical problems encountered by Pennsylvania's Montgomery County in moving from mechanical to electronic voting machines. The second case describes a Norwegian effort to implement a fully automated voting system in Oslo County, and how technical problems led to a parliamentary crisis. By examining these two cases, in many respects similar to teledemocracy implementations, some conclusions are drawn about the unique challenge of implementing teledemocracy. Teledemocracy supports the existing system of representative democracy, then information technology that supports the existing democratic system must be implemented. Though this article was based on two cases of failed implementations, it is important to note that the article takes no stand on the likelihood of teledemocracy failure, only what may happen if the technology behind it fails. Potential failures must be avoided through special attention to design and vigorous testing of all elements involved in the technology solution, while political support must be ensured.