Article written by Sandrine Vieira and published in Le Devoir on 18 September 2019
While young people know more about technology than earlier cohorts of voters, online voting would not substantially raise their electoral turnout.
That is one of the findings of the report Online Voting: A Path Forward for Federal Elections, produced in 2017 for the Privy Council Office of Canada.
Its authors looked at the effect of online voting on youth turnout, on the grounds that young people are “heavy Internet users” and that their turnout is lower than that of other age groups.
At the last federal election, turnout among voters aged 18 to 24 was 57.1 per cent, compared with 66.6 per cent among those aged 45 to 54 and 78.8 per cent among those aged 65 to 74.
Yet studies of voting history and voter age at the municipal level in Canada conclude that “some young people are motivated to vote when online voting is available, but their numbers are modest”.
The researchers hypothesize that, when it comes to their first experiences of voting, young people may be attached to the symbolism of turning up at the polling station in person.
Advantageous but risky
In general, voting from an Internet-connected device carries several advantages for electoral participation, such as being able to vote at any time, according to the report. This method of voting offers another option for electors who are far from their polling station, who have no means of transport to get there, for people with reduced mobility, or for those who simply lack the time. Indigenous communities that were consulted also stated that the method supports self-determination.
The document nevertheless catalogues obstacles to implementing electronic voting securely and effectively. Among them are citizens’ low level of digital literacy, limited access to the technology, the secrecy of the ballot, the difficulties of authentication and verification, the scope for fraud and coercion, and security threats.
According to Michael Lahaye, senior cybersecurity advisor at OKIOK, one has to be alive to the many security issues raised by implementing such a system. “If there were, for example, a flaw in the application allowing a citizen to vote twice, all trust in the system would collapse, and at the level of the election itself you could not rely on the results, the expert notes.”
“The portal would risk being reachable from anywhere in the world, so international threats come into the picture, he adds. You also have to watch out for insider threats: the system has to be secure against the employees who hold valid credentials to operate it.”
In its 2015 election platform, the Liberal Party promised to study mandatory voting and online voting. In 2017, it announced that it would not be proceeding with these reform proposals.
Despite the proposal being dropped, several specialists take the view that modernizing elections is unavoidable. “Almost all agreed that in the longer term, technology will become a fundamental component of elections in Canada, the report states. Some specialists said that online voting will probably be adopted in most countries in the long run, while others foresee elections conducted entirely over the Internet thanks to biometrics or other futuristic technologies.” Online voting has been used in municipal elections in Nova Scotia and Ontario since 2003.