Gauging the risks of internet elections
Deborah M. Phillips, Hans A. von Spakovsky · Communications of the ACM · 2001
In this article, authors assess the potential risks of using the Internet as a voting mechanism. They review the important public policy questions, as well as the technology challenges, using the three critical tests, security, privacy and equity to gauge whether an election is free and fair. As voter turnout has continued to decline across the U.S. Internet voting initially presents itself as a benign, even benevolent, new platform for election administration, promising to reach voters not currently engaged in the process. However, Internet voting is fraught with risks to the integrity and security of elections. Voters casting ballots on computer terminals or whose paper ballots are scanned electronically and tabulated often question the potential for unseen manipulation. Completely removing voting from independent observers and putting it in cyberspace may stretch the public trust to the breaking point as the U.S. has an unfortunate history of voter fraud. Internet elections may be inevitable, assuming the Digital Divide is overcome through uniform Internet access. But to prevent premature or injurious use, they offer the following framework and its guidelines for progress.