Does the Introduction of Online Voting Create Diversity in Representation?

The Internet’s effect on political communication is omnipresent. However, very few jurisdictions around the globe allow their citizens to cast their ballot online. What are the electoral consequences of this reform? Research, so far, has mainly looked at security considerations and effects on turnout. In this research note, we broaden the scope of prior studies by examining the effect of online voting on diversity in representation. Using the voting results of municipalities in the Canadian province of Ontario both before and after the implementation of online voting, we test whether this reform has increased the representation of women and youth. We do not find that Internet voting has any significant impact on which candidates are elected, with both the gender and age of elected mayors being constant across online and traditional elections. We further find that the number of woman candidates does not increase with online voting.

Not Unique, not Universal: Risk Perception and Acceptance of Online Voting Technology by Russian Citizens

What is the connection between Russian citizens' perception of Internet voting and the context of its top down adoption with their readiness to use it? To investigate this question, we use Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to account for both observed and latent indicators of technology adoption and their linkage with the Internet voting use intent. The authors use survey evidence from VCIOM (2020) and a national survey of Internet users conducted by Online Marketing Intelligence (OMI) company in 2021. This study provides some support to the application of theoretical expectations formulated in the context of Western democracies to the Russian population's voting technology attitudes. The findings indicate that the use of the Internet is not a robust measure of technology acceptance anymore, and a more nuanced approach to the experiences of Internet usage is needed. Internet users appear to be more concerned about privacy, the possibility of fraud, and external interference than the respondents drawn from the overall population. The authors suggest that it is due to acceptance of risks seeming inevitable and to bigger digital literacy and therefore awareness about the risks posed by voting online. Acknowledgments. The authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for their astute observations and criticism. For their helpful comments, we thank our senior colleagues at HSE University: A. S. Akhremenko, K. L. Marquardt, and M. G. Mironyuk.

The Applicability of Internet Voting in Africa

The covid-19 pandemic has brought about new ways of conducting business through the use of Information Communication Technologies and elections have not been spared either. Internet voting is another form of strengthening democracy through the use of Information Communication Technologies. Africa lags in the implementation of electronic voting, especially Internet voting. This chapter applied a critical socio-technical analysis that analyses factors that influence the applicability of Internet voting within the African context. The researcher applied desktop research which included 30 journals to gather data from the Internet and other documentation sources. The findings reveal that decision-makers can partially implement Internet voting in some of the countries in Africa like Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Morocco, Mauritius, Tunisia, and Seychelles. To successfully implement Internet voting, the decision-makers in African nations have to fully invest in the Information Communication Technology infrastructure, provide the necessary security, legislation and carry out intensive voter education to build trust among voters.

Investigating Usability and User Experience of Individually Verifiable Internet Voting Schemes

Internet voting can afford more inclusive and inexpensive elections. The flip side is that the integrity of the election can be compromised by adversarial attacks and malfunctioning voting infrastructure. Individual verifiability aims to protect against such risks by letting voters verify that their votes are correctly registered in the electronic ballot box. Therefore, voters need to carry out additional tasks making human factors crucial for security. In this article, we establish a categorization of individually verifiable Internet voting schemes based on voter interactions. For each category in our proposed categorization, we evaluate a voting scheme in a user study with a total of 100 participants. In our study, we assessed usability, user experience, trust, and further qualitative data to gain deeper insights into voting schemes. Based on our results, we conclude with recommendations for developers and policymakers to inform the choices and design of individually verifiable Internet voting schemes.

Electoral Process using Biometric Fingerprint Scanner that Suits the Bhutanese Election

Democracy is a gift from the golden throne; from 2008, Bhutanese people started to choose their leader by casting a vote. The right to vote and more importantly the exercise of franchise by the eligible citizens is the heart of every democracy [1]. Through this exercise of their right to vote have the ultimate power to shape the destiny of country by electing representatives who run the government and make decisions for the growth, development, and benefit of all the citizens. However, the voter turnout seems to be decreasing at an alarming rate based on the Election Commission of Bhutan [5]. This paper proposes an electoral process aiming at better voter turnout. It replaces whole electoral system using Biometric Fingerprint scanner for the voter authentication and a display unit connected to a central database which helps a voter to cast their vote from nearest polling station instead of having to go to his/her polling station to cast vote. It is a hybrid of internet voting and a traditional electronic voting method where the system uses electronic equipment at the nearest polling station to cast vote instead of using a personal laptop or mobile phone to cast vote using an app. The hybrid system is adopted with the major findings shown in “Internet Voting in Estonia” [13] which is a small country and suitable to adopt internet voting.