Why Can't Voting Be Done Online?
- Muskaan Makkar
- Feb 5, 2021
- 5 min read
Muskaan is back at it again with the political topics?
Indeed!
This is more of a discussion regarding a question, though.
As the world becomes more and more technology-dependent (especially because of COVID-19) why has our voting system not matched that same energy?
This was a question raised by a guest speaker at the Charleston Mayor’s Youth Commission’s recent virtual summit, “Race and Social Justice + Financial Empowerment,” and I keep thinking about it.
Because… why? I tried to think about what the defense for anti-virtual voting in presidential elections (and local and state as well) was, and I thought maybe because electronic voting can be hacked?
I didn’t want to form a complete opinion on it before researching, so here’s what I discovered.
Online voting has been a thought pondered upon by many recently. There has been a growing interest in the possibility of online voting with the ongoing pandemic. The debate of mail-in ballots versus in-person voting could have been easily avoided if voting was completely virtual. If schools can educate virtually, and the workforce can function over Zoom meetings, why can’t our presidential elections also take place online? Why can’t we just click a few buttons, type in our information, and be done?
Well… because there are issues with virtual voting (just as there are issues with a virtual education and workplace). Let’s talk about why:
It’s not about hacking, though that is a fear. It’s also not about the losing side claiming “voter fraud” because of aforementioned, potential hacking. America used to vote orally, and then over 116 years ago we switched to the anonymous paper vote. We also have allowed mail-in absentee votes (which, to clarify, have been around since before the 2020 election). And actually, it is important to note that voting is online in a few states; “some 32 states and the District Columbia allow some kind of online voting, either voting by email, or electronic fax or portal” (Verified Voting Foundation). This online voting is mostly limited to voters in special circumstances, such as military serving overseas or American citizens staying abroad (CNBC).
But the reason why even this is frowned upon is because of a core American value in voting, and one mentioned in most – 44 – state constitutions: anonymity.
Because of current technological limitations, “it is not possible to maintain separation of voters’ identities from their votes” (USA Today). Most of the states that allow electronic voting require voters to sign a waiver of their right to a secret ballot. But though there is a waiver… I have fears about online voting. It is no secret that America is extremely split politically. Anonymity is important to protect because by law, no voter can be persecuted based on who they vote for. Voting needs to be anonymous.
As technology advances, counter technology that can thwart that anonymity will also advance. This is scary to think about – what if the voter information falls into the wrong hands? I know this is all hypothetical and that votes are supposed to be well protected and logically will NOT be hacked, but it is an important point to consider. Your identity becomes attached to your vote online, and until technology is not limited in preventing this, online voting won’t be safe.
But then how come other countries can do it? Caitriona Fitzgerald, the CTO for the Electronic Information Privacy Center says that there are significant challenges to e-voting in America. Countries like Estonia, Chile, and Uganda can practice online voting because they have smaller populations and “there may not be as much international interest in affecting elections as they are here,” nodding a head at the previous accusations of Russia working with Wikileaks to hack into Hillary Clinton’s e-mails in the 2016 election. And this is true! Cybersecurity remains a major issue. Foreign adversaries may try to influence or manipulate elections given security vulnerabilities.
I know most of us are having the thought of online voting simply because of the circumstances of this year, but there has been extensive research and debate on this topic for years. The bottom line is: experts are concerned about the validity and safety of online voting. Dan Wallach, a computer science professor at Rice University, says “We collectively, the computer security community, have been looking at online voting systems for decades, and it's considered an open problem… even though there are companies that sell products in this space, absolutely no computer security expert will tell you that they are secure, because we simply don't know how to build secure online voting yet.”
And remember how some states actually did allow online voting in special circumstances? Well, in February 2020, researchers from MIT found “severe security flaws in the online election system from Voatz, the company that ran West Virginia’s first mobile election, allowing the hacker to alter, stop or expose a user’s vote.” MIT and UMichigan performed another study, which revealed similar security concerns in Omniballot, Delaware’s system for online voting options (CNBC).
…yeah.
I think Dan Wallach put it best: “Right now, online elections are an academic research project. And you know, maybe in a decade we’ll finally know how to do it.”
But it just does not seem like a feasible option for America at this moment.
My intention for this blog post goes beyond just online voting though. I want to raise a point on the importance of research. I came into writing this post fully intending to find tons of support for online voting. But I didn’t, and I changed my mind on this topic. I just want to urge everyone to do their own research on topics before they speak on it. In the age of social media, it is very easy to fall into the habit of performative activism and not really understand what you are promoting. Do your research (reading my blog is not research, but I have left below the sources that I used and trusted).
On another side note, I wanted to touch on “there are problems with a virtual education and workplace.”
Honestly, it’s hard being a high school student in 2021. Or a teacher. Or an administrator, or a scientist, or a pageant queen, or a janitor, or literally any job or action that requires us to maintain our responsibilities. It’s hard to be virtual when as humans, we are meant to communicate in person. But I want to encourage you all to keep following CDC guidelines. As some schools are switching to hybrid mode and in-person fulltime mode, it is important that we follow safety protocol as much as we can. Stay safe, wear a mask, and most importantly, have empathy.
I love you all.
Sources:
I did not include this source as a citation in my blog post, but I highly recommend reading this article by Verified Voting
Comments