Non-Technical Risks of Remote Electronic Voting

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DIGITAL GOVERNMENT IDEA GROUP INC., Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko, Mattia Malkia, eds., pp. 502-507, 2006

6 Pages Posted: 14 Jul 2009 Last revised: 4 Jul 2014

See all articles by Anne-Marie Oostveen

Anne-Marie Oostveen

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute

Peter van den Besselaar

Rathenau Institute - Science System Assessment Department; VU University Amsterdam - Faculty of Social Sciences

Date Written: 2006

Abstract

A few years ago, remote electronic voting seemed like a good idea for the near future. Globally, voting turnout figures are dropping dramatically and politicians are therefore trying to find ways to increase civic participation. One solution is to make the voting process more convenient by giving voters the opportunity to submit their governmental election ballots over the Internet from home or work, or through their mobile phones using SMS. In this way, people will not have to leave the comfort of their homes or their work routines to have their voices heard. What a great boost this would be for our Western democracy! Citizens who live overseas, housebound people, or business travellers, everybody could use a computer to cast a ballot online. However, we will argue in this article that for several reasons remote electronic voting does pose a real challenge for e-government and might not necessarily be the best way forward.

Keywords: e-voting, verifiability, civic ritual, privacy, digital divide, social identity

Suggested Citation

Oostveen, Anne-Marie and van den Besselaar, Peter, Non-Technical Risks of Remote Electronic Voting (2006). THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DIGITAL GOVERNMENT IDEA GROUP INC., Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko, Mattia Malkia, eds., pp. 502-507, 2006, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1432515

Anne-Marie Oostveen (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute ( email )

1 St. Giles
University of Oxford
Oxford OX1 3PG Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire OX1 3JS
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.social-informatics.net

Peter Van den Besselaar

Rathenau Institute - Science System Assessment Department ( email )

Anna van Saxenlaan
Den Haag
Netherlands

VU University Amsterdam - Faculty of Social Sciences ( email )

De Boelelaan 1081
Amsterdam, 1081 HV
Netherlands

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