Is There a Way to Vote Online?

In most of the world, voting is still carried out at polling stations or by mail-in ballot. However, there are now many proposals for online voting that would allow people to cast their vote from their own computers or mobile devices.

Those who promote this technology argue that it will help increase voter turnout by making it easier for people to cast their vote. It also will help reduce the costs of conducting elections.

The problem is that, while online voting may offer greater convenience to many voters and could save the government some money in the long run, it poses a major threat to our democracy. It does not meet the security, privacy, and transparency requirements that govern American elections.

One of the primary vulnerabilities in online voting is that a voter can be compromised by computer malware. This malware can be used to steal data from the voter and manipulate their vote. It can be injected into the voter’s system through their web browser or through a malware-infected computer.

Voters need to be aware of this vulnerability, and there are a number of things that can be done to protect their voting experience from being compromised. For example, some systems require that a user be registered and authenticated by the election authority before they can vote.

This process can include providing the last four digits of their social security number or a copy of their driver’s license, passport or other photo ID document. It also involves submitting their name, address and date of birth to the jurisdiction.

There are also ways to prevent someone from voting if they don’t belong there. A voter who is not in the correct district, for instance, can be sent to a different district or even another state. This can be a serious concern, particularly in cases where the voter has a disability or is elderly.

Another way to protect voters is to use tokens that are issued to eligible voters and used to verify their identity. These tokens are used only when a user logs into the online voting system and cannot be reused for future votes.

A third way to protect a voter is to create an end-to-end audit trail. This can be achieved by requiring a voter to mail back paper copies of their ballot and signed attestations. This would ensure that if there were any problems with an online voter’s vote, the officials who verified it could be sure to track it down.

In addition, a voter should be aware that if a voting system is not secure enough it may allow hackers to hack into the voting system and alter voters’ votes invisibly as they are transmitted to the election server. This has been demonstrated in the case of a botnet called Zeus.

Although there is a growing body of research that points to the dangers of Internet voting, no viable technology has emerged that can match the security of paper ballots and other traditional methods. This has been the view of computer experts around the country.