He’s spent the summer chatting with voters via Twitter and a web-based video feed, but when it come to actually casting ballots, Coun. Arjun Singh is still a fan of the voting booth. “I like the idea of being able to go into a booth where some other people are there and they can monitor whether people are being influenced or coerced,” Singh said. The B.C. government has announced it will ask the province’s chief electoral officer to strike an independent panel to examine Internet voting. Attorney General Shirley Bond said adding online voting to the range of options in B.C. could improve accessibility in elections — which could improve voter turnout that sagged to less than 30 per cent on average in the last round of B.C. municipal elections. The panel will examine “best practices” for online votes in other provinces and jurisdictions. However, critics of online voting argue there is more room for manipulation of online voting — or, just as problematically, claims of manipulation.
“It can be too easily hacked at the moment. Any electronic voting can be hacked. It’s not secure,” said Derek Cook, a political scientist at Thompson Rivers University, who points to online attacks that caused delays and party frustration during the federal NDP leadership vote in March. “What happens if a group claims to have hacked a result, whether they did or not?” That’s a concern Singh shares, but he’s also worried an online system could leave voters more vulnerable to coercion from friends, parents or other family members, should they not have the luxury of logging onto their computer in complete isolation.
Full Article: Kamloops This Week – Security of online voting cited as a concern.