Voting online is already possible in many areas of the private sector. And, although it is less common in elections for public office, more and more countries are beginning to allow it for residents abroad, thus saving unwanted errors and millions of euros in postal charges.
But savings and accuracy of results are not the only advantages of voting online rather than by mail. The anti-coercion mechanisms of Internet voting are also more effective.
Online voting without curtains
For many people, one of the first memories linked to elections is that of their parents entering one of those booths with curtains that are set up in almost every polling station. But how useful are these sort of "testers" of democracy?
The idea behind the voting booths is to provide voters with a space where they can place their vote in the envelope confidentially and without pressure. Since the vote must be secret and free, without anyone pressuring us to vote for something other than what we have chosen.
This type of pressure is called vote coercion and today it is a crime. But in the past it was a very common and consented practice, typical of the caciquismo in the democracies of the 19th century. And that is why our elders value so much the presence of booths in polling stations.
However, reality shows that this system has not completely eliminated malpractices. And there are many stories of henchmen accompanying voters to check that they do not pass through the booths. Or those of parties with sumptuous meals in which sealed envelopes with the "most convenient" option are handed out. The booths are also used by some dictators to disguise fraud before international observers.
Voting by Internet allows us to implement more effective mechanisms against vote coercion than the traditional curtain. But before we review them, let's see what happens with postal voting.
Online voting without envelopes or paper
Postal absentee voting is worse than in-person voting in terms of anti-coercion measures - and in general in terms of anti-fraud measures. Internet voting is already more secure than postal voting in many ways. Especially because of the prevention of coercion. Let's see why.
In the previous section we have explained that the effectiveness of booths with curtains to avoid coercion to vote is relative. Well, in the postal system, you don't even have this measure.
In addition, the postal vote-by-mail process is so tedious and complicated that it is prone to various types of fraud. Let's take a look at some of them:
- Sometimes, the postal staff identifies you when you pick up the envelopes with the different voting options but does not identify you when you deliver the envelope with your vote. And this has given rise to cases of identity theft.
- The postal vote by mail period is very long, which gives enough room for vote-buying schemes.
- There is only one official envelope available to cast a postal vote, so it is easy for a lobbyist to check that his victim closes the envelope with the indicated option. He may not be able to deliver it, but he will not be able to cast a different vote either.
- Since the envelopes with the voting direction and the person's identification travel together, we must trust that the postal company's personnel keep our vote safe. If not, breaking the secrecy of the vote would be very easy for an interested third party.
Voting by Internet allows us to solve all these weaknesses of postal voting. Let's see how.
Voting online without threats
Voting online has many advantages. One of them is that it allows us to implement simple anti-coercion voting mechanisms.
To begin with, the voting slips that can be downloaded after the registration of the online vote have a hash, an unalterable alphanumeric code with which we can consult if our vote has been correctly registered without being allowed to access our voting sign to avoid threats or incentives by third parties.
In addition, in the most secure processes, voters can overwrite their vote as many times as they wish. This feature, which may raise suspicions among laymen, is an effective anti-coercion measure that is applied, for example, in the Estonian presidential elections.
Overwriting the vote is the best way to discourage third party threats. Because, no matter how much they check that we have chosen the option they impose on us, we can always overwrite our vote later with the option of our preference. We can say that overwriting the vote is the best curtain. And it is only possible when voting online.
In Kuorum we have been helping public and private organizations to implement online voting in their elections and assemblies since 2013. If you have any doubts, you can contact us without obligation.
