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Discussion on the use of electronic voting
technology is usually in the context of the population at large heading to the
polls in order to elect government officials. In 2014, technology will play an
increasingly integral role in many
elections around the world, including Brazil, Indonesia, Belgium and the
United States. However, e-voting technology should not be restricted solely to
the realm of public elections. The technology can be effectively adapted and
used in all sorts of scenarios, even with government itself.
In a recent article in the Canadian
magazine Maclean's,
political expert Aaron Wherry asks why the elected Members of Parliament (MPs)
do not vote electronically. This is a notion that was put forth by the McGrath
committee in its second report (PDF
link), stating that the current system of manual voting on the individual
bills, amendments, clauses and other acts of government is a poor use of time
and resources.
Under the current system, each individual
Member of Parliament stands in turn to orally declare his or her vote on a
particular motion. In order for the vote to count, the clerks have to read out
each of their names. What this means is that a lot of time has to be spent, as
each vote is read aloud individually and is cast individually.
If e-voting technology were to be adopted
in the House of Commons, then the Members could simply cast their votes from
their seats in the House. This could be done via a mobile application on their
phones, through a secure terminal at their seat, or via any number of other
possibilities. This way, all the votes can be cast within a few minutes and the
results can not only be tabulated instantly by a computer, but they can be
publicly displayed just as quickly.
This saves a lot of time, which should help
to make governments more effective and efficient in doing the work that needs
to be done. E-voting can also have an additional benefit.
With the current system of standing up and
publicly declaring the vote, the Member is held individually accountable for
his or her vote. There is value in that, but it also means that the Member will
also feel a great deal of pressure to vote the same way as the rest of his or
her party, even if he or she disagrees with that particular vote. Party
politics play too large of a role.
James McGrath says that it is “awfully
difficult to stand up and vote against your party knowing you’ve got the whip
breathing down your neck.” Patrick Boyer, a former MP with the Progressive
Conservative Party of Canada agrees: “I think electronic voting could overcome
some of the institutional weight that is suppressing a lot of MPs. They talk
about free votes in Parliament. Well, the real way to make that happen is to
bring in electronic voting.”
If private e-voting technology is
implemented, the true opinion and view of the Member of Parliament can be
better reflected, as he or she won't feel the same kind of pressure to vote the
same way as the rest of the party. A more accurate representation of the will
of the people, by way of the voting of the Members, can be reflected. Even so,
if this notion is a problem, the individual votes of Members can still be
accurately recorded and open to public scrutiny if needed.
Government needs to continually modernize
in order to best serve the needs of the people.
