Internet voting is currently offered as an option in municipal
elections in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia.*
History
In 2003, 12 cities in Ontario offered an Internet voting
option. That grew to 20 in 2006, and doubled to 44 in 2010. Then the number
leapt to 97 cities in Ontario in 2014.^
In 2008, 4 cities in Nova Scotia offered an online voting
option. That increased to 16 cities in 2012, and then 20 cities in 2016.
In 2014, 59 cities went entirely paperless,
offering just online voting or a combination of Internet and telephone voting.
Public
Opinion
Recently, Canadian political scientist Nicole Goodman and
professor of communications, Heather Pyman, released a study of public opinion
about online voting in Ontario. They surveyed
voters, candidates, and election administrators in 47 of the 97 cities that
offered Internet voting in the October 2014 municipal elections in that
province. While
over 200,000 people were involved in the process, 33,090 participated in the
survey for a response rate of about 17%.
Ninety-five percent of respondents report being satisfied
with the online voting process. Eighty percent were ‘very satisfied,’ suggesting
a degree of enthusiasm for the Internet voting option. (p16)
98% of respondents say they would be likely to vote online
in future municipal elections, 93% report being ‘very likely’ to do so. Similar percentages would be likely/very
likely to vote online in state or federal elections. (p18)
Convenience was the biggest benefit voters cited. In the
comment section of the survey, respondents said they appreciated not having to
wait in lines, being able to vote without losing time from work, or vote while
at work, or while being out of town, and not having to deal with polling place
clerks. Some felt that online voting
provided more privacy than voting on paper in a polling place. (p17) 88% cast
their ballots from home, and 7% from work. (p20) The majority of online voters
used their PC rather than other connected devices. (p21)
Over 95 percent say they would recommend Internet voting,
with less than 5 percent saying they would ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ not do
so. (p18) (Some of the latter respondents felt frustrated by the security steps
required to vote online, which are mentioned below.)
14 percent of online voters indicated they either
‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ would not have cast a ballot had it not been for Internet
voting. (p25)
Age
While one might expect younger voters to vote online more
than older voters, the actual figures are the exact opposite. Only 4 percent of
online voters are aged 18 to 24 years, 8% are 25 to 34, and 14 percent are 35
to 44. Seventy-four percent of the
online voters are 45 years old or older.
65% of Internet voter respondents report being over the age
of 50. Thus, the most likely to vote online are those over 50. (p28) Because
young people generally vote less, they are less likely to be users of Internet
voting. (p29)
Education
and Gender
Fifty-seven percent of the online voters report having at least
some college education; with 55% female, and 45% male. (p29)
Security
Ambiguity
No evidence has been offered of any votes or vote totals having
been changed by hackers in any Canadian public election. Security precautions have been
successful. Methods of voter
authentication vary. Some only require a secret
PIN. Others call for a secret PIN, birth
date, email confirmation, and a security question, which some voters found to
be complicated.
37% of those voters who chose not to vote online cited security concerns. But 32% of non-online voters reported having no
concerns about the security of the technology. (p35)
54% of all respondents said they believe voting by mail is
less safe than by Internet, but 28 percent feel mailing in ballots is safer,
and 18 percent were not sure. (p35)
Candidates
Sixty-nine percent of candidates report being satisfied with
the Internet voting process. 47% say they were ‘very satisfied.' 73% of candidates were satisfied with the
security of the election. (p46)
Nearly 80% of candidates feel positive about
having an Internet voting option. But sixty
percent of respondents say they are ‘completely against’ having Internet voting
as the only option, 21 percent say
they are mostly against that. (p51)
Administration
In general, election administrators report that
their municipality chose Internet voting to make voting more accessible and
convenient for voters. (p57) But it was
also more convenient for them, especially as to the speed and accuracy of the
vote count. (p55) Thirty-one percent of administrators thought costs had
decreased due to the adoption of online voting, 18% thought they had increased,
and 14 percent believed they stayed the same. (p58)
The vast majority had confidence in the security of their Internet
voting technology. (p61) As to turnout, early voting increased when online voting
was offered as an option, but overall turnout only increased slightly. (The
authors suggest that the general increase was around 3.5%, p65, note 15)
Ninety-six percent of administrators were ‘very’ or ‘fairly’
satisfied with the process, and none say they were ‘not at all’ satisfied with
the process. (p53) Over 90% of administrators
said they would recommend Internet voting in future municipal, provincial, and
federal elections. 81% of administrators
said they would ‘definitely’ recommend Internet voting for their 2018 municipal
election. (p60)
Conclusion
This study showcases a group of voters,
candidates, and administrators with amazing courage and pioneering spirit
compared to their southern neighbors. Ontario Canadians are a model for their
counter parts in the USA. Why Internet voting would advance democracy in the US political system, and why that progress is being obstructed, is discussed in several earlier posts on this blog,
such as here,
here,
and here.
William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
Author of Internet
Voting Now! Here's How. Here's Why - So You Can Kiss Citizens United Goodbye!
*Thanks to Canadian political scientist Nicole Goodman and
to Prof. Heather Pyman for producing the study from which the above information
is taken. The study can be accessed at The
Centre for e-Democracy (free, safe
download)
^Stats from ibid, pages 10f
