In a kind of leapfrogging move, next month, Estonia will be the world’s first country to allow Internet voting in their national parliamentary elections. A test-run of the system allowing people to vote the ‘king of the forest’ proved successful.

Constitutional, legal and security-related issues are holding back full-scale internet voting in many other countries. Fear of fraud (originating not merely from within, but even from outside of the country) remains one of the major concerns for both governments and citizens. As such, much debate is going on not only about the differences in rate and system sensitivity between classical and internet voting fraud, but also worries about digital divides, social exclusion, etc. Nevertheless, many of the envisaged advantages (faster, less labour-intensive, more people leaving their car in the garage, no more queuing, no more counting, less checking, etc.) are expected to soon outweigh possible disadvantages and, as technical hurdles are overcome, to make the evolution take place in many other countries in the near future as well .

Via Slashdot

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