As reported on this blog about a year ago Norway had a great experience with its first large trial of Internet voting. Now there is more good news.
“It's official,” proclaimed Christian Bull, head of the Internet voting project in Norway, “we're doing another Internet voting pilot in 2013.”
In a December 14, 2012, press release, The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development made this announcement: *
After positive experiences with the experiment of 2011, the Parliament of Norway will continue the trial of Internet voting in the elections of 2013.
“We need to know more before we conclude whether this is a future way to vote for all voters in Norway,” says Secretary Dag Henrik Sandbakken.
The evaluation of the experiment in 2011 showed that voters have high confidence in the election process. 92% of the voters in the trial cities had positive opinions about their experience. They found it to be an easy and convenient way to vote.
Even 75% of the voters who did not take part in the initial trial expressed positive opinions about using Internet voting in the future.
One of the key findings from the evaluation is that Internet voting enabled voters with disabilities to vote alone and without assistance for the first time. This includes the blind and visually impaired voters.
“We have also received positive feedback from the Norwegian Association of the Blind, who welcome another trial in 2013,” says Sandbakken.
Two conclusions in the evaluation of the last election are that no evidence of violations of voter secrecy were found, and that there were no reports requiring official investigation of problems with attempts at undue influence or vote buying for either Internet voting users or other voters.^
The researchers point out that the initial Internet voting trial raises several unanswered questions to which this evaluation does not provide answers, and that there is a need for further testing and research. They want, for example, more data on the effects of Internet voting on turnout among the various groups of voters.
The ten municipalities that participated in the previous experiments will also participate in the 2013 trials.
[End]
William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
Political Scientist, author, speaker,
CEO for The Internet Voting Research and Education Fund
Email: Internetvoting@gmail.com
Blog: http://tinyurl.com/IV4All
Twitter: wjkno1
Author of Internet Voting Now!
Kindle edition: http://tinyurl.com/IntV-Now
In paper: http://tinyurl.com/IVNow2011
* Google Translation used for this report
Just in - the English translation by Norway is up, at
^ Translation corrected in consultation w/ Mr. Bull 12-18-12
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