Citizen Jury Praises Internet Voting Trial in Edmonton
By Dr. William J. Kelleher on 11/27/2012 in Edmonton, internet election, internet voting, online election, online voting with 11 CommentsRead Time: 2 - 3 minutes
Credit: Cedar Publishing
Remember the online vote for your favorite jellybean color? Well, Red won!
The whole idea was to test public reaction to Internet voting in Edmonton. So, opinion surveys were conducted, and a 17 member Citizens’ Jury was convened to study the process and public response. The Edmonton Journal reports that after three days of hearing testimony from experts, and lots of study, just this Sunday the jury unanimously approved the further use of the technology in upcoming elections.
City officials say that Internet voting could be offered in Edmonton’s next civic election on Oct. 21, 2013.
Canadian political scientist, Nicole Goodman, reports that Internet voting has “transformed” early voting in cities like Markham, Ontario, which was the first major Canadian city to introduce it in 2003.
“Prior to the introduction of Internet voting, there were 2,000 votes registered at advance polls,” Goodman says. “But for the past two elections, it has averaged 10,000, or just over that.”
Canada is a world leader in Internet voting, with more online voting at the municipal level than any other country on the globe. According to Prof. Goodman, it has been offered in 60 municipalities to more than two million voters.
While it’s generally thought to be favored mostly by youthful voters, Goodman says the average Internet voter is actually between the ages of 45 and 54, and has some college or university education.
So far, most municipalities use electronic voting for advance polls only, but in places like the city of Truro, Nova Scotia, not just early voting, but the entire vote is conducted online. Voter turnout there went from 19% in 2008 to 47% two years later.
“And what’s really interesting about this is that it’s an elderly community, so that puts to rest any concerns that [online voting] is too complicated for seniors, or that they won’t have the technological knowledge,” Goodman says.
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11 Comments
Lucas Eaves
11.27.2012
@lucaseaves
One more step toward internet voting. However, these local elections, at the difference of a presidential election for example, would not be targets for fraud where you can really test the resistance to hacking for example.
Matt Metzner
11.28.2012
@mmetzner
Possibly. Smaller elections that have less national attention may present better opportunities to discreetly rig an election, online or otherwise.
Marc Schenker
11.27.2012
@marcschenker
I think Lucas is onto something. I, too, am hesitant to praise Canada for being the “leader” in Internet voting, like that’s a good thing or something! I nearly LOLed while reading this article because the very high danger of online fraud–which Internet voting just has to be subject to–was never once considered. I mean, a lot of people are still wary about using their credit cards to purchase things online, and now, you mean to tell me that the sacred voting process should just be left to the insecure environment of the Internet?! C’mon.
Dr. William J. Kelleher
11.28.2012
@DrWJK
Of course, like Matt says, local oficials want to win. They feel temptations. But after years of experience, the systems are set up to make cheating result in political suicide – ’cause you can’t get away w/ it.
Marc needs to read more. Did you see that 60 elections have been held – its all w/o fraud. Why?
Because the pros who set it up know what they are doing. Just because there are still people who ride their horse to work doesn’t mean we all should give up our horseless carriages.
William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
ブランドコピー
11.28.2012
Both fighters were injured going into the Fox fight. JDS was on crutches a week before the fight. and still showed up. he? knew he had to finish the fight early cause his cardio wasn’t good and cain can go for days.
Cassidy Noblejas Bartolomei
11.28.2012
@cassidynb
I’m interested to see how internet voting develops in Canada and if the US will follow suit. Oct. 21 of next year will be telling, should it be tested at this time.
Alex Gauthier
11.28.2012
@alexg
great follow up. I was curious as to whether or not the trial would be successful. Can’t wait to see how things turn out next year.
P Gambell
11.29.2012
Until you secure the transmission for the vote on the internet you will never be able to stop penetration. A voting system is great but the nefarious people are just waiting to attack the system and rig an election, we have the ability to stop that.
kirk
11.29.2012
Online voting has a number of potential issues. I have been trying to bring them up for years – I encourage you to read my guest post on a friend’s weblog to see where I see the issues with these systems: http://www.enlightenedsavage.com/2012/11/dr-strangevote-or-how-i-learned-to-stop.html
スーパーコピー
01.18.2013
’m interested to see how internet voting develops in Canada and if the US will follow suit
ブランドコピー代引き
04.29.2013
Marc needs to read more. Did you see that 60 elections have been held – its all w/o fraud. Why?
Because the pros who set it up know what they are doing.