As voting wrapped up Tuesday on one of the most significant primaries in Indiana history, some people walked away after standing in line for a few minutes but other places had long delays. That in turn, had some people asking: why online voting isn’t an option? … Eugene Spafford is a computer science professor at Purdue. He and many other scientists have studied the option of online voting. “Online voting sounds appealing because many people have access to the internet,” said Spafford. “But one problem with it is that we can’t trust it.”
Spafford cites programming as one of the main issues. “The state of software and security protocols is such that people could think they are casting their vote, but it would either not be counted or altered in transit that would have it vote for someone else,” explained Spafford. “That’s a problem with any kind of computer system. Anyone who has used a computer has had errors come up.”
Even though the lines can be long, Spafford believes it is the most trustworthy system we have today. “To date, the best mechanism we have for voting is showing up at a polling place and using what is known as a paper ballot — a scanned ballot, that can then be audited after if a recount is needed,” said Spafford.
Full Article: Future of online voting | wlfi.com.