With the widespread adoption of smartphones and the use of mobile tactics in U.S. presidential campaigns, could there come a day when Americans might vote wirelessly? That question was posed to a panel of mobile campaign experts at the Brookings Institution during a webcast Tuesday. The prevailing view was that wireless voting in the U.S. is a long way off. Considering that much voting in the U.S. is still done with paper ballots, electronic voting over a wireless device such as a smartphone is “a long ways away,” said Katie Harbath, associate manager of policy for Facebook. She noted that delegates to the Iowa Republican Caucus in February still voted with pen and paper.
Scott Goodstein, founder and CEO of Revolution Messaging, agreed, saying there have been problems with electronic voting at polling places in previous elections. The U.S. is not as advanced as some other countries in using electronic voting, he said. Clark Gibson, professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, said Americans are concerned about keeping their votes secret — and that makes it unlikely that we’ll accept mobile voting anytime soon. He noted that mobile banking is catching on quickly, with customers using smartphones to make cash transfers and handle other types of transactions. But he said that’s working because banks have insurance to protect customers from crooks who carry out fraudulent transactions.
Full Article: Wireless voting still has a long way to go – Computerworld.