Online Voting in Alberta or Elsewhere
According to a report by Richard Liebrecht of the QMI Agency:
Alberta Musing Online Election Voting
New election rules have cleared the way for Internet and electronic voting, which could come to Alberta as early as 2013. “Obviously that online voting is something that’s on the forefront of people’s minds … people say, ‘I can do my banking online, but I can’t do my voting online’,” said Brian Fjeldheim, Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer.
The Chief Electoral Officer went on to say “Once it has been proven to be effective, that the votes can be certified, all that security stuff can be looked after, I certainly see that as something that’s coming.”
How easy is looking after “all that security stuff”?
Is the parallel between e-voting and e-banking valid?
A few years ago (“Electronic Voting and the Law“) I suggested (unofficially, of course) a few reasons why Internet voting is not like Internet banking. Was I unduly pessimistic? Or are people in fact a bit too blasé about the security of e-banking?
[via Internet Law News]
Thanks to a member of John Gregory’s ULC-ECOMM email list, the original source of this post, we have a link to the bill in question [PDF], and a link to the statement [DOC] in the legislature introducing the bill.
I think the comparison between voting and banking can only go so far. If someone’s money went missing, they would notice. But how would you know if your vote went missing?
Voting falls under the broad umbrella of “Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done.” Even if (big if) an ideal, secure on-line system were available, its use would close an election off to meaningful popular scrutiny.
I may get burned someday on this, but I just don’t see how this is feasible in the next 10 years at least. The public trust just won’t be there until a long time. Even if the security means were perfect (paper polling is not perfect either, but that’s another matter), the public trust in the process is essential and I can’t see how it could be accomplished, at least in the near future.