E-voting at the polling booth uses a computer screen rather than the traditional paper-based ballot (Dixon, 2001: 2). Otherwise, the system is virtually the same as regular voting (Dixon, 2001: 2). The voters still select line go to a polling booth, have name marked off and pick their candidate from a list of names given on the computer, and they allocate their preferences as they see fit (Mercurio, 2002: 29). These computers would only be connected to a private network and server, and voting officials would detect if there had been any outside access to the server (Dixon, 2001: 2). Some academics view this as the intermediate point between the current paper-based system and complete online voting systems (Mercurio, 2002: 29). However, there is no ability to do a paper-based recount – citizens would have to trust the accuracy and impregnability of the computer in order to have faith in the system (Mercurio, 2002: 36).
In America, e-voting at the polling booth has been instituted in order to alleviate citizen and government concerns about more voting confusion, as occurred in the 2000 Presidential election in Florida, where the ballot paper was difficult to use (O’Brien, 2004). The American Federal government passed the Help America Vote Act 2002 in an attempt to streamline the voting process. The Act has endorsed the installation of electronic polling booths, in order to reduce confusion with regards to the complicated Florida ballot (O’Brien, 2004). However, these machines have created long delays at pre-election day polling booths, due to problems connecting to the server (O’Brien, 2004). There is also concern in American by groups such as [www.electionline.org electionline.org] that the Bush administration has not committed as much funds as was required to fix the voting problems, and there is concern that the new electronic voting systems will cause as much confusion as in the 2000 election (O’Brien, 2004).
Brazil, has also implemented the electronic voting at the polling booth. Brazil incrementally implemented electronic voting – first at the local elections in 1996, then introducing it to most federal electorates in 1998 and in 2002 implemented throughout the entire population (Mercurio, 2003: 37).
In Australia, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), is leading the way in implementing electronic voting at polling stations. Section 100(2) of Victoria’s Electoral Act 2002 (Vic) allows voters who are overseas or interstate to use electronic means to vote, allowing for ATM-style voting machines to be used (Mercurio, 2003: 25). The ACT Electoral Commission has allowed e-voting in pre-polling centres in the 2001 and 2004 legislative assembly elections – the first system of its kind in Australia (Mercurio, 2003: 25). Voters in that election were given the choice of using the paper-based system or the computer voting kiosks (Dixon, 2001: 16). In the ACT, voters use a keypad and barcode to vote on the electronic computers (Australian Capital Territory Government, 2004). The system counts the votes also, and arrives at a result much faster than manually counting the votes due to ACT’s complex Hare-Clark voting system (Dixon, 2001: 16).
Ben Fraser 19:07, 28 Oct 2004 (EST)
7.30 Report, (2004, October 24) Presented by Kerry O’Brien. Brisbane: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. [Video recording: VHS]
Australian Capital Territory (2004) ‘ACT Electoral Commission – Electronic Voting’, retrieved 12 October, 2004, from http://www.elections.act.gov.au/elecvote.html
Dixon, N (2001) E-Voting: Elections via the Internet? [Online] Available at: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Parlib/Publications_pdfs/books/rbr0101nd.pdf. [Accessed 11 August 2004]
Help America Vote Act 2002 (US)
Mercurio, B (2003) ‘Overhauling Australian Democracy: The Benefits and Burdens of Internet Voting’ University of Tasmania Law Review, vol 21(2) pp23-65 [Online]. Available through the Informit database. [Accessed 7 August 2004]
For more information on these sources, see the Annotated Bibliography
Ben Fraser 10:27, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)
Ben Fraser 13:06, 26 Oct 2004 (EST)
Ben Fraser 13:05, 26 Oct 2004 (EST)
