Election securityOnline voting not ready for prime time
Online voting is often considered a way to improve voter turnout and security. But according to one expert, computer scientists have got a long way to go before they make it a viable alternative to pencils and paper.
Online voting is often considered a way to improve voter turnout and security. But according to Dr. Steve Kremer of the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, computer scientists have got a long way to go before they make it a viable alternative to pencils and paper.
He is researching ways of making e-voting secure under a project called SPOOC.
Horizon, the EU research and innovation magazine, discussed online voting with Kremer.
Horizon: Why would we want to vote online?
>Steve Kremer: In many countries, participation in elections has gone down in recent years. There is a hope that online voting could revive this, because voters wouldn’t have to go to a polling station. Young people in particular do everything now via the internet. They could get an email, and vote immediately from home – it would be more convenient.
But online voting is not a simple replacement for traditional voting. There are various possibilities, advantages and shortcomings, and those are what I’m studying.
Horizon: Why isn’t it a simple replacement?
Kremer: Traditional voting, unless it is by post, is usually in a controlled, private environment. Online voting is remote, and there is potentially no privacy. It’s like comparing apples and pears, and people need to be aware of this.
Horizon: But we buy things online, and bank online, and that’s safe enough.
Kremer: So here there are several differences. One is that there is actually a lot of known fraud in e-commerce and online banking, and it is built into the economic model. If you have a credit card, for instance, you pay your bank for it one way or another. If someone then steals your card details and uses them online, you can be reimbursed by your bank’s insurance.
The second difference between online voting and online banking is that with online voting the risk is taken by everyone, whether they opt to use it or not. If you opt to use online banking and your details are hacked, you’re the only one who will be impacted.
