Delayed Postal Ballots Inhibit UK Overseas Votes; Estonia’s Online System Shines as an Example

 

In the recent UK General Election, tens of thousands of overseas voters faced disenfranchisement due to delays in receiving their postal ballots. A survey by New Europeans UK, Unlock Democracy, and the British Overseas Voters Forum revealed that less than half (46%) of those surveyed managed to return their ballots on time. The issue was prevalent even in countries with efficient postal systems such as France, where only 55% of the respondents received their ballots in time. 191,338 overseas voters were registered for the 2024 general election.

The findings of the survey presented to the UK Parliament were disheartening. Many Britons abroad reported receiving their postal ballots well after the election had concluded, rendering their votes useless. The inefficiency was particularly egregious in countries like Australia, where only 6% of voters eligible to vote from abroad managed to get their vote counted. Some overseas voters resorted to traveling to the UK or using expensive courier services to ensure their votes were counted.

Efforts to modernize the voting process for overseas Britons have been discussed. Recommendations include extending the election period and allowing citizens to vote at UK Embassies or High Commissions. However, these measures might only bring minimal improvements. Online voting stands out as the most viable solution to this recurring problem.

UK lawmakers would do well to study the successful implementation of online voting in Estonia. Since 2005, Estonian voters have been able to cast their ballots online from anywhere in the world. The system has proved to be efficient, secure, and highly inclusive, drastically increasing voter participation among citizens living abroad.

Estonia's success serves as a valuable example and highlights the need for the UK to modernize its voting systems to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their location, can effectively exercise their right to vote. The technology required for secure online voting is available and has been successfully implemented. There is no valid excuse for the UK not to adopt similar measures to prevent the disenfranchisement of its overseas citizens.

The UK government must urgently address the inefficiencies in the current postal voting system and consider the introduction of secure electronic voting. By doing so, they can ensure that every citizen's vote counts, regardless of where they are in the world.

Reviewing the 2015 UK General Election

The general election in the United Kingdom wrapped up early last month with Prime Minister David Cameron being selected for another term and the Conservative Party earning a majority in the Commons with 331 total seats. This was a shock to many political pundits and analysts, but more relevant to the context of this blog, much can be said about the continuing development and implementation of electronic voting technology in the 2015 UK election.

Leading up to the general election, there was much discussion about the future of elections in the United Kingdom particularly in terms of the adoption of electronic voter registration, electronic voting and even Internet voting. This continues to spark an ongoing debate about modernizing the democracy and bringing it up to the 21^st century. It has been said that the more widespread use of technology in the democratic process would encourage greater citizen participation, particularly among the younger demographic. Recommendations have included the implementation of a two-step verification process for voter authentication and the creation of a central voting website.

But these are looking ahead to the future with an optimistic outlook of implementation in time for the 2020 General Election. What actually happened with the 2015 General Election? The United Kingdom has made significant strides, particularly when it came to an online system for voter registration. A last-minute rush saw nearly 470,000 people register online in just a 24 hour period, breaking the all-time record.

Despite progress in enabling the people of the United Kingdom to add their names to the official voter roll via the Internet, such progress was not witnessed to the same extent in other areas of modernizing the British election.

For Britons who are currently living abroad, the process for casting a ballot is frustrating and time-intensive. It takes so long, in fact, that many such individuals could not participate in the 2015 General Election because their postal ballots did not arrive in time. This is despite registering as much as two months in advance for individuals living as nearby as the Czech Republic or Spain. “Large number of citizens abroad,” said expat voting rights blogger Brian Cave, “have not received any ballot papers for the election.”

A secure online voting system with proper voter authentication could have overcome this major problem.

Even when voting in person, the UK electoral infrastructure faced significant challenges. Some polling stations had to turn away many voters who indeed had their polling cards but were not showing up in the electoral roll due to IT glitches. The voting systems need to have the proper audits and checks in place so that such errors simply do not occur. An electronic polling station connected to the central database could have rectified such issues.

Another fatal flaw of traditional paper ballot-based voting is the increased likelihood for spoilt ballots. This was precisely the case in the recent UK elections as an estimated 27,500 ballots were rejected, mostly because these voters ticked more than one candidate. Because of the secret ballot, the voters whose ballots were rejected were never informed that their vote would not count. This “voter confusion” could be avoided with a well-designed direct-recording electronic voting machine, as the software would be configured to accept only the correct number of inputs from the voter.

Looking ahead to the next General Election in a few years, the electoral officials in the United Kingdom still have a lot of work to do. Thankfully, they have some time to work out these problems and to start developing and implementing better, more modern solutions for casting a ballot. Internet voting, which 63% of those polled by YouGov stated would boost voter turnout, should be seriously considered. The UK would also benefit from better systems for the electoral roll, as well as the move toward offering direct-recording electronic voting machines in lieu of paper ballots. Democracy can only work when the infrastructure is working at its best.

Technology to encourage citizen participation and engagement in the UK

At its most fundamental core, the ultimate goal of any true democracy is to best represent the will of the people. And it is of absolutely paramount importance to note that the democracy should not only represent the will of some people from a particular demographic or sub-set of the population; the democratic process should account for the views, opinions and desires of as many eligible citizens as possible.

And while this may sound like such an obvious truth, there has been a growing problem with voter apathy and dwindling voter turnout in many democracies all around the globe. This is all while so many other nations are desperately fighting for the opportunity to elect their own governments in a fair and transparent manner. For some, the reason why they choose not to vote is that they are not engaged with the political process, disenchanted with apathy and corruption. They do not feel that the political process is relevant to their everyday lives.

In the "Viral Voting" report issued by WebRoots Democracy, many of these issues are explored in the context of the United Kingdom, but they can be just as applicable in many other places around the globe. In particular, the report takes a look at the youth vote and what it will take to encourage more young people to visit the polls. This is not a new topic and it has been stated many times before that the future of democracy should embrace e-voting technology.

In the WebRoots report, Head of Citizenship and Political Participation Programme at Demos Jonathan Birdwell indicates that only 44% of those aged 18 to 24 voted in the 2010 election, while 74% of those over 55 voted. This gap is incredibly significant. It's not that young people don't care about the future of their respective countries. They may not be voting in the same proportion as older generations, but many are actively poltical in more informal ways. The challenge is engaging this demographic so that the voting process can once again be relevant to them.

E-voting and online voting may not be the "magic bullets" to suddenly turn the tides and erase widespread political distrust and apathy. However, it is an important step in making the political process relevant among a generation that grew up on the Internet and surrounded by electronic technology in nearly every aspect of their everyday lives. There has been much debate about introducing Internet voting in the UK and the push continues to this day. For young people, voting with a paper ballot in a booth can feel archaic and dated; they have come to expect the omnipresent convenience of online tools and services. Voting should be no different, while maintaining physical polling stations as an option for everyone.And it´s not just about young people either. Ad Agatka Cienciala points put in her Foreword in the WebRoots report, some groups can feel "alienated form the democratic process." Online voting and properly configured direct recording e-voting machines con alleviate some of the accesibility issues for voters with disabilities, for instance. Indeed, Agatka asserts that politics should be inclusive, "seeking to represent all members of society." As a key pillar of democracy, this fundamental right cannot and should not be impeded.

The report provides several valuable recommendations for the UK government to follow. Some key highlights include:

• Implementation of an accessible online voting option in time for the 2020 General Election
• Engagement with social media companies to integrate online voting platforms
• Creation of a central voting website
• Adoption of 2-step mobile verification for voter authentication, similar to the systems used by Google and Dropbox
• A fair and open competition among vendors of voting technology starting in 2015 

And it´s not just about young people either. Ad Agatka Cienciala points put in her Foreword in the WebRoots report, some groups can feel "alienated form the democratic process." Online voting and properly configured direct recording e-voting machines con alleviate some of the accesibility issues for voters with disabilities, for instance. Indeed, Agatka asserts that politics should be inclusive, "seeking to represent all members of society." As a key pillar of democracy, this fundamental right cannot and should not be impeded.

Debating Internet voting in the UK

Source: www.cbc.ca

The Internet is used for just about every aspect of everyday life. It is where people go to connect with one another through dating sites and social media. It is where people go to shop for the latest fashions and gadgets. It is where they go to get the most up-to-date news and opinions on world events. It's where they do their banking and even use a range of government services.

Given this, it is somewhat surprising that voting over the Internet, sometimes called i-voting and occasionally included in the broader discussion of e-voting, hasn't already been more widely implemented in more countries around the world. To further this discussion, Senior Political Correspondent Jason Farrell of the UK's Sky News recently engaged in an online webchat via Google Hangouts with three guests on the merits and challenges of casting a ballot via the web. The full replay of the 22 minute debate has been uploaded to YouTube.

In that discussion, WebRoots Democracy founder Areeq Chowdhury points out that it's almost a common sense point to modernize the democracy in the United Kingdom and bring it up to date by offering an online option for voting in elections. The Internet, as mentioned above, already infiltrates such a wide range of daily activities and to retain the archaic pen-and-paper method of casting a ballot as the primary method of voting feels incredibly outdated.

Indeed, just as Sir Richard Branson feels that the Internet is the future of voting, all of the guests on the program also support its adoption, but not without some hesitations. There is the risk of security threats for “hacked” votes that would compromise the integrity and legitimacy of election results. Chowdhury agrees that there are risks and there will be flaws. He also agrees that the lack of a paper trail to verify votes cast can also be worrisome, but he feels that the bigger risk at play is the risk of losing even more voters. The drop in voter turnout has been alarming and it needs to be address. The electorate needs to be more engaged with the political process and taking the vote online, along with other tools related to the election, can help to keep the modern political system relevant for voters both young and old.

To this end, Emma Mulqueeny of the Speaker's Commission on Digital Democracy feels that should an i-voting system be implemented in the United Kingdom, it makes more sense to look at the things that people are already engaging with online. She uses the example of social media, like Facebook, as a possible route for developing an online voting system rather than spending excessive amounts of money to develop a brand new system from scratch that could just as easily be riddled with flaws and problems.

In response to critics and naysayers who fear an online voting system that can be hacked by criminals, Mulqueeny says it is actually far easier to trace a digital footprint online, looking through servers and IP addresses, than it is to trace any ill-doing and tampering through paper ballots. It is harder to be completely anonymous on the Internet. Chowdhury agrees that everything has flaws and nothing is 100% secure, but people are still willing to utilize services – online and offline – that are equally as insecure as an online voting system. The issue is whether or not you can secure it to an adequate level.

Perhaps one of the most telling perspectives came from National Youth Council in Estonia member Marju Tamp as Estonia has been a leader in the I-voting revolution for a number of years. She says the security has been “flawless” and the Internet-based voting has been a very positive experience overall. Surprisingly, the older generation is actually accepting i-voting more happily than youth in her country.

Internet voting offers a compelling possibility in the United Kingdom and throughout the rest of the democratic world. Watch the full 22-minute Stand Up Debate from Sky News on YouTube.