The use of e-voting in the Austrian federation of students elections 2009 (original) (raw)
The use of e-voting as a new tool of e-participation in modern democracies
Finding the answer to the question of the role of electronic voting in a modern country constitutes an important part of researches into electronic democracy. The recent dynamic development of information and communication technologies (ICT) and mass media have been leading to noticeable changes in functioning of contemporary countries and societies. ICT is beginning to play a greater and greater role and filter down to almost every field of contemporary human life -including politics. Electronic voting represents one of the more and more popular forms of so called e-democracy, and is an interesting research subject in the context of mechanisms for implementing this form of participation in elections, its legitimization, specific technological solutions for e-voting and their effectiveness as well as unintended consequences. The main subject of this text is the use of electronic voting (e-voting) as one of the forms of electronic democracy. The article attempts to answer the following research questions: First, what is the impact of ICT on the political processes -particularly on the voting procedures? Secondly, what is the essence of electronic voting and what are its main features? Finally, what are the e-voting experiences in the European countries?
EIIC 2014. The 3rd Electronic International Interdisciplinary Conference, Proceedings in Electronic International Interdisciplinary Conference, eds. M. Mokrys, S. Badura, A. Lieskovsky, EDIS – Publishing Institution of the University of Zilina, Slovakia, ss. 311-315, ISSN 978-80-554-0921-4., 2014
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) constitute a crucial element of globalisation and computerization processes. ICT are not exclusively present in the economy, entertainment, trade or banking, but they are also used in politics or social area. Public institutions employ ICT (particularly the Internet) for informational and educational purposes as well as for improving the efficiency of state institutions and bodies. With the availability of new (apart from traditional) forms of participation, such as e.g. electronic community consultations, electronic people's initiatives, participatory budgeting, e-voting, the citizens are offered the possibility to increase their activity on the political scene and their real influence on the decision-making process. It’s due to the fact that modern technologies can improve the interactions occurring between voters and political institutions, political parties, or politicians. One of such interaction is the process of voting, which in some countries is supported by ICT (e-voting). This article aims primarily at providing answers for questions: about the most important problems connected with introduction of this more and more popular way of civic participation in politics and with the use of e-voting in general elections, as well as about the most crucial and most frequent uncertainties that e-voting implies.
A Survey: Electronic Voting Development and Trends
Electronic Voting, 2010
The far-reaching changes made by the technological revolution help people to communicate instantly with others regardless of their respective locations. People travel around the globe more frequently and millions engage in social networks and use new forms of internet-based communication systems to share their thoughts and ideas. Electronics and social systems are blending into each other to create new communication channels.
E-VOTING SYSTEMS: A TOOL FOR E-DEMOCRACY E-VOTING SYSTEMS: A TOOL FOR E-DEMOCRACY
Using electronic voting systems is divisive as some countries used such systems and others did not. Electronic voting (e-voting) is relatively a new concept based on its application that aims at reducing errors and improving the convenience and integrity of election process. This paper tried to explore the factors that influence the adoption of such systems in a university environment. The study utilized a sample of 302 bachelor degree students in a public Jordanian university and in relation to students' council election process. Results indicated that students were keen on the concepts of trust and usefulness of e-voting when adopting such systems. The study supported the findings of TAM in the area of technology acceptance. Conclusions are at the end of this paper.
Internet Voting Technologies and Civic Participation: The Users’ Perspective
Javnost - The Public, 2004
In many places e-voting technologies are under development, and an intensive theoretical and normative debate is taking place about the pros and cons. We investigate the opinions of the users of this type of technologies, as this is crucial for the shaping and acceptance of the technology. We did not use a survey, but held 14 intensive discussion sessions in different countries with voters and organizers of ballots, using the focus groups methodology. We found consensus that evoting will not influence turnout. The motivation to start with e-voting therefore seems mainly financial, aiming at reducing costs. This suggests that in the future e-voting will replace traditional ways of voting, and therefore the digital divide can be expected to influence the participation in and the outcome of ballots. Finally, although most respondents expect that evoting may improve (especially local) democracy through a combination of voting technologies with technologies for supporting deliberation and information dissemination, it remains unclear how this should be done. More detailed studies into political participation and the subtle roles of ICT's herein are needed, as this can inform the design of adequate technologies for e-democracy.
Electronic Voting, 2006
The current development of e-voting systems worldwide raises several specific interesting issues from a legal point of view. Auditability measures, identification procedures or guarantees for voting secrecy and equality are good examples, but we often forget a fundamental question: the usefulness of these new technologies. This paper intends to provide an answer that takes into account the complexity of all democratic systems. An updated image of the electoral procedures, the advantages for disabled people, the reduction of economic charges in the electoral fields or the increase of voting turnout will be analysed as the possible positive consequences of e-voting systems. 1 Presentation The theoretical arguments about e-voting procedures often begin with a couple of general statements that it is worth recalling. First of all, political participation cannotand should not-remain isolated from the vertiginous development of ICT. In the future, these new technologies will condition, with even greater intensity than nowadays, the ways popular will is expressed and, probably, votes are cast.
ON-LINE POLITICS AND VOTING: OVERCOMING THE DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT? Council for Innovative Research
The advance of digital technology in the field of politics in the last 20 years has raised the expectations about enhancing the potentials of the long dominant model of representative democracy. The need to reinvigorate the overall political process was talked about since the first signs of decline in the civic engagement in the second half of the past century. In the meantime, technological gadgets, and, especially the great versatility of Internet applicability have indeed contributed for better communication between the political elites and their people and for sharing the information on the unprecedented level. Yet, the key challenge still seems barely touched: how to provide meaningful participation of the politically awakened individuals in the decision-making processes within the states. In the article we offer a brief survey of the European and USA achievements in the field of e-voting and Internet-voting in order to show how the political, technical and security concerns are still prevailing in the debates thus undermining the trust in the new modes of casting the votes. Also, we present the results of the survey done with 120 students in the Republic of Macedonia and their considerations about the eventual Internet voting in the country. Applying the descriptive and analytical methods we would argue that the immense possibilities for using Internet in politics are far from being exploited, so the initial miscalculation and failures should not discourage the communities from observing new pathways for improving the unavoidable digital component of democracy.
Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development
This chapter contributes to the debate around e-voting by describing and discussing the experiences of two adopting countries: India and the Philippines. With careful, qualified comparison of the experience, the author overviews the possibility for adoption in Africa. Africa often finds itself at the centre of attention with respect to elections. This regrettably relates to extreme violence, civil disobedience, and fraudulent activities. Will e-voting be the panacea for her problems? This chapter also provides a snapshot of current international e-voting experiences with respect to trailing, piloting, adopting, and even abandoning this practice. A challenge with electronic voting is that the voting machines are susceptible to sometimes undetectable changes by insiders, outsiders, and hackers who may or may not have ulterior motives. Opportunities, on the other hand, include inter alia neutral, faster, more accurate ballot counting. The chapter concludes with a contextual African eva...
E-voting and media effects, an exploratory study
2003
Europe and elsewhere are planning to experiment with it, and to implement it. Many technology development projects have been undertaken in recent years, and the technological standards are being established. At the same time, a lot of legal and philosophical issues are at stake, as the system, form and technologies for voting do have normative implications. This makes the politico-technical arena in which the development and implementation of e-democracy systems in general and e-voting systems in particular so difficult and complex. In this paper we focus on the social and social-psychological aspects of voting media, in particularly Internet voting. Put it in a more general way, Internet technology may change the social setting in which people decide whether and what to vote, and as a consequence, the voting itself. We describe the design of longitudinal and comparative experimental field studies, in order to study these effects. After that we will present some of the initial empirical results. The study is theoretically relevant, as it validates results of experimental studies in a more 'real life' environment. That is, we will try to answer the question to what extent social-psychological mechanisms have an influence in real environments. Apart from that, the study may inform technological development and decision-making about the design and use of Internet technologies for political processes.