Last month, I had the privilege of traveling through Switzerland on a tour sponsored by the Initiative and Referendum Institute of Europe (IRI Europe). The six-day tour led us through five cities and connected us with dozens of experts covering a wide range of topics on direct democracy (more info here from our friends at Ballotpedia.org).
As a technologist, what perhaps captured my attention most was a cutting edge system of Internet voting that is being rolled out in a multi-year process across Switzerland, starting with trials in three cantons (or Swiss "states"): Geneva, Neuenburg and Zurich.
Why Internet voting?
While the main argument for Internet voting might be increasing voter turnout, the Swiss experiences so far provide no evidence of an increase in the number of people voting. It is interesting to note that the introduction of postal voting in Switzerland 20 years ago also did not noticeably increase turnout. It seems then that voters who are inclined to vote will do so regardless of the mediums available to them.
Rather than turnout, the strongest arguments in favor of Internet voting are convenience for the voter and accuracy/efficiency in the vote counting process. We need only remember dangling chads in Florida to understand the limitations of voting in an analog world.
Of course, the gains in accuracy will be completely negated if there are ever instances of hacking and fraud in an electronic system.
So, what about hacking and voter fraud?
While the media seems to be full of stories about hacking and identity theft in the world of financial services, in reality there are relatively few instances of breaches in security. More and more consumers are shopping and managing their bank accounts online and nearly all of the world’s financial transactions (trillions of dollars daily) happen electronically in a system that is hardened and secure.
In the same way, voting systems can be built to be equally as secure. In Zurich, we met with representatives from Unisys, the company contracted to build the Internet voting system, and walked through (at a very high level) the security protocols and measures in place. The systems they presented are probably some of the most secure in the world.
I stress probably because Unisys is holding the core code as a closely guarded secret. In my opinion, an open source approach would be more prudent (allowing a community of software developers to review the code, find potential bugs and validate security). Just look at the security of open source software vs. proprietary ones (e.g. Linux vs. Windows).
However, even if the systems are secure, I wonder about the concerns that U.S. citizens will have about a private corporation essentially running our democratic process. Remember the computerized voting machine conspiracy theories?
What are the political implications of Internet voting?
While the Swiss haven’t yet seen a rise in turnout as a result of Internet voting, the opportunity to increase turnout is very real. For one thing, Swiss campaigns do not rely on paid voter contact in any way near what California campaigns do. One could imagine a future where a campaign might send its supportive voters messages via email and social media reminding them to vote and linking directly to the Internet voting website.
We might expect to see younger voters more engaged with Internet voting, but, if the Swiss are any indicator, some of the largest adopters will also be busy professionals who don’t vote (even by mail) because they don’t have enough time. The predominant users of Internet voting in Switzerland are men, ages 18-50, who are typically educated professionals and early adopters of technology.
Will Internet voting ever be a reality in California?
I believe the answer is yes; Internet voting will one day be a reality here. The progress of technology is inevitable and the benefits of more accurate elections, higher turnout and eventual cost savings of an automated system will likely be attractive to voters in the U.S.
So it is mainly just a question of time…it won’t happen here next year and maybe not in the next five or ten years, but it probably won’t take much longer than that.
And when that day does arrive, the Swiss are providing a great model from which to learn. It was the Swiss, after all, who inspired that other radical democratic innovation in California: the ballot initiative.
Note: IRI Europe is holding its "2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy" conference in San Francisco July 30-August 4th (which my fellow F&H blogger, Joe Matthews, is organizing and my company, Activate Direct, is proud to co-sponsor). The topic of the Internet and democracy will be covered in an evening event on Monday, August 2nd. This event is open to the interested public; check the conference schedule for more details.