Educate
What Are the Alternatives to Postal Voting?
How to vote remotely in the modern world
A citizen’s political right to vote is one of the greatest achievements of modern democracy. Voting opens the possibility for everyone to have a say in the way society is organized and a chance to shape it according to their needs and preferences. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that elections are set up in a manner that enables all eligible citizens to participate and cast votes.
Unfortunately, there are a handful of hurdles that might make this difficult, even if an election is organized with the best of intentions. A challenge that has become increasingly common and widespread in recent years is that of accommodating citizens who are out of the country on election day.
In many countries, the right for citizens who are living or travelling abroad to participate in elections is a fairly recent development, yet it is regarded by many as an important part of a modern citizen right. This is particularly relevant in a world where hundreds of millions of people live outside their home country, and many more travel abroad each year.
There are several ways in which electors can cast their votes from abroad, with some countries limiting their options for remote voting to one channel, and others offering multiple methods. So far, the most commonly used methods are postal voting and in-person voting at embassies or other designated places. While such in-person voting is not too different from standard paper voting in your home country, postal voting can sometimes require witnesses to confirm the identity of the voter and verify that they have cast their vote freely and without interference.
Postal and in-person remote voting, though, are often logistically challenging. It is not always guaranteed that voters receive ballot papers in a timely manner for postal voting, and there might only be one designated in-person voting place in any given abroad country. Because of this, alternative voting channels have been increasingly explored in order to facilitate the voting process and decrease the logistical and financial burden of organizing remote voting processes.
Proxy Voting
Through proxy voting, a citizen living or travelling abroad can choose a proxy who casts their vote for them at a polling place in their home country. The United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, India and some provinces in Canada are just a few examples of places that allow for proxy voting in certain elections. Unfortunately, proxy voting relies heavily on trusting the proxy you select to not only cast your ballot, but to cast your ballot with your preferred choices.
Phone or Fax Voting
With phone or fax voting, the voter calls or faxes a designated number and transmits their preferred voting choices after confirming their identity. In most cases, the voter’s choices are recorded, encrypted and stored automatically. While some provinces in Canada allow for phone voting, Australia and New Zealand allow their external voters to vote by fax in certain circumstances.
E-Ballot Delivery
E-ballot delivery is a method of sending voters their election ballots electronically and having them marked and returned by the voter through the postal system, fax, or even by email (online ballot return). In some cases, ballots can also be marked on-screen (online ballot marking), which prevents common errors or incorrect marking, such as over-voting (marking more options than allowed) and under-voting (marking less options than required). Even when ballots have to be returned by post, e-ballot delivery has a relative advantage over traditional postal voting due to its electronic delivery and the option to utilize ballot-marking software.
Online Voting
Online voting enables voters to cast their vote privately and easily from any location and on any device with Internet access (PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.). This allows both remote voters and disabled voters who may need to use adaptive technology to participate on equal terms. In the most advanced online voting systems, voter privacy, election integrity, end-to-end security, vote correctness and full verifiability are guaranteed via cryptographic protocols. In addition to the added accessibility and security, greater election efficiency is also experienced as a result of significantly reducing costs and delivering timely and accurate results. Many countries, such as France and Switzerland, have already had some experiences with online voting, while Estonia, as well as the Australian state of New South Wales, offer online voting on a regular basis.
Each of these remote voting alternatives offers voters living and traveling abroad, and those who are not typically able to vote in person at polling stations, the opportunity to participate equally in elections. It’s important to remember that the proper security measures must be in place for each of these voting channels in order to preserve election integrity and voter privacy. To learn more about how online voting platforms are secured, we recommend reading this article.
This article was written by Maximilian Hee, Public Policy Intern at Scytl.
