Electronic voting for service voters

Written on .

Explanations of e-Voting and where it has been used:

Some more critical websites:

Previous views on electronic voting for service voters

This is from

Silence in the Ranks
, written following the service voting fiasco in the General Election of 2005:

4.4  Remote electronic voting

On the face of it, electronic voting (e-voting) would appear to be an attractive alternative to proxy and postal methods of absent voting, especially for voters overseas. Several respondents have indicated to us that they would be prepared to consider using remote electronic voting if it could be “guaranteed” to be accurate, secure and secret. It was suggested on the “Army Rumour Service” website that as issues of identification and access are easier to address within the military environment, service voters might well be an appropriate group to involve in any further trials in actual elections.

We therefore welcome the Secretary of State’s agreement to investigate the suggestion of a controlled trial of electronic voting for Her Majesty's forces, along with any other constructive proposals.

Silence in the Ranks went on to say, however, that

After further reviewing the available literature on experience of electronic voting overseas,however, we now have greater doubts as to how the secrecy, accuracy and integrity of remote electronic voting can be adequately guaranteed.

We had taken into account the results of the election pilots which had been held in a number of English local authorities, and the debate in the United States and elsewhere.

We are not aware of any controlled trial of electronic voting for service voters ever having taken place in the UK, but the possibility of such a voting method has continued to come up from time to time.