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Upon hearing the word “voting,” most likely events such as elections or referendums are the first things that will appear in our minds. In such events, traditionally, voters are invited to come into an official polling station. There, voters able to cast their votes, either through a conventional paper ballot through a machine.

Some are willing to participate in the entire process, believing that voting is a mandatory task that every citizen should do regardless of the hassle. Meanwhile, some others are willing to skip voting due to the lack of interest or lack of time or energy to vote. Curing political apathy is indeed extremely difficult, if not impossible. However, making it easier and more practical to vote is not.

Online voting (also known as internet voting or i-voting), is one possible solution to make voting more convenient. Online voting/i-voting is different from electronic voting/e-voting. In online voting, voters can vote using their own devices connected to the internet, without being physically present at the polling stations. Meanwhile, electronic voting refers to the practice of voting using a machine or processing votes using a machine while still being physically present at the polling stations. 

Theoretically, through online voting, voters can cast their votes through their own devices from the comfort of their own homes. The technology to turn this concept into reality itself is already here.  Estonia is one example of how a state can successfully organize online voting. Hence, is it a good idea to implement online voting in our next elections?

The Convenience of Online Voting

The most notable advantage of online voting is its convenience. Voters don’t need to physically come to the polling stations, which will save their time and energy. Logically, a more convenient voting system will increase voter turnout since it will allow voters to cast their votes without the hassle of coming to the polling stations. Moreover, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the ability to vote without leaving one’s home is more relevant than ever.

The effect of online voting on voter turnout rates can be seen in Estonia. This state has been successfully integrated online voting into its elections since 2005 and became the first state in the world to do so. This Baltic state first introduced online voting in the 2005 local elections. According to the Estonian government, during the 2005 local elections, only 1.9% of all votes were cast online, which increased significantly to 5.5% in the next election, which was the 2007 parliamentary elections[i].

The number of online votes in elections in Estonia kept on climbing steadily. In the latest election that was held in Estonia, which was the 2019 European Parliament elections, the number of online votes reached as high as 46.7% of all votes[ii]. This means that almost half of all votes in Estonia in this election were cast online. Likely, this number will further increase in the future and even surpass the number of conventional votes.

Moreover, during the early years of implementing online voting in Estonia, online voting contributed to the increase of Estonia’s turnout rate. The turnout rate for the 2005 local elections was 47.4%, which increased to 60.6% in the 2009 local elections[iii] . Parliamentary elections also have witnessed a similar story. Estonia’s 2007 parliamentary elections had a turnout rate of 61.9%, which increased to 63.9% in the 2011 parliamentary elections[iv]. However, there is no more significant increase in turnout rate after this election[v].

The Potential Threats Towards Online Voting

Despite its advantage, various risks also haunt online voting. The first and most well-known risk of online voting is the threat of cyberattacks. There is a countless number of malware that can be used to threaten online voting, such as changing someone’s vote, stealing the voters’ data, damaging the device used for voting, and other malicious types of cyberattack[vi].

Cyberattacks can threaten an election’s integrity, hence posing a direct threat to the state itself. This threat applies to both the voters’ devices, such as personal computers and mobile phones, and the devices of the election committee.

Secondly, similar to conventional voting, online voting is not safe from social engineering. However, online voting arguably has a higher risk of falling victim to social engineering[vii].  Social engineering itself is a term that refers to the practice of manipulating others for one’s benefit[viii].

Various types of social engineering pose a threat to voters and the election committee. An example of social engineering in online voting is when a perpetrator sends a convincing email that claims to contain the official link to vote for the election when it does not, and the link directs to a fake voting website or, even worse – infect the victim’s hardware with malware[ix].

Should Other States Follow Estonia’s Example?

With Estonia’s success story, should all states implement online voting in their next elections? The answer much depends on each state themselves since different states have different characteristics and resources. Online voting is highly determined by a state’s digital infrastructure since generally only developed states have the necessary digital infrastructure. Simultaneously, less-developed are unlikely to have such infrastructure[x].

Estonia is in a highly advantageous position compared to most other states when it comes to the global digital divide. As of 2019, it was estimated that 89.53% of Estonians have used the internet[xi]. This is much higher than the world average, which was 50.45% in 2018[xii].

Compared towards other fellow European states, Estonia is on the higher end in internet penetration, as the average internet penetration in European states was 80.35% in 2018[xiii]. Therefore, should other states wish to follow Estonia’s successful implementation of online voting, they will first need to improve their internet penetration rates.

Furthermore, within a state itself, even in a developed state, there is often a significant digital divide among its citizens. This digital divide is based on socioeconomic factors, such as income, education, ethnicity, and age[xiv]. Generally, those with lower income, as well as those who belong from an older age cohort, are less likely to utilize online voting[xv].

Conclusion

To conclude, the practice of online voting in elections still has plenty of room to grow. Online voting provides benefits to voters, such as allowing voters to vote without leaving their own doorsteps. This advantage is evident, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, online voting is still haunted by threats such as cyberattacks and social engineering. Regardless, online voting has successfully increased Estonia’s turnout rate during its early years of implementation. Moreover, the success of online voting implementation is highly determined by a state’s digital infrastructure – notably internet penetration in which numerous less-developed states still lag behind. Also, even in developed states, certain demographic groups still lag in mastering technology and are likely to be excluded from online voting.

Author: Ariq Dimitri Andrei
Editor: Amelinda Pandu Kusumaningtyas

 

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[i] Valimised. 2020. Statistics About Internet Voting in Estonia. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://www.valimised.ee/en/archive/statistics-about-internet-voting-estonia.

[ii] Ibid

[iii] Ibid

[iv] Ibid

[v] Ibid

[vi] Rubin, Avi. 2001. Security Considerations for Remote Electronic Voting over the Internet. Accessed November 16, 2020. http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~rubin/courses/sp03/papers/e-voting.security.pdf.

[vii] Ibid

[viii] Ibid

[ix] Ibid

[x] Oostveen, Anne-Marie, and Peter van den Besselaar. 2003. E-Voting and Media Effects, An Exploratory Study. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EMTEL/Conference/papers/Oostveen.pdf.

[xi] International Telecommunication Union. 2020. Individuals using the internet. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://www.itu.int/net4/ITU-D/icteye/#/topics/2001.

[xii] Ibid

[xiii] Ibid

[xiv] Oostveen, Anne-Marie, and Peter van den Besselaar. 2003. E-Voting and Media Effects, An Exploratory Study. Accessed November 16, 2020. https://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EMTEL/Conference/papers/Oostveen.pdf.

[xv] Ibid