No one ever said
that the path to progress was going to be easy, straightforward and without
challenges, but that does not mean we should abandon any of the positive steps
we have taken to move forward. One area where this has become increasingly
pronounced is in the context of voting technology.
A very recent
example of this comes from Switzerland, widely regarded as one of the safest
and most affluent countries in the world. There, the government has decided to deny
access to e-voting technology in nine cantons. The explanation provided is
that an audit of the electronic voting system being put forth for the upcoming
federal elections has unearthed a number of significant security flaws in
regards to protecting voting secrecy.
The electronic
voting system was developed by Unisys, a company based in the United States.
“Some serious deficiencies were noted,” according to government spokesperson
Andre Simonazzi. “Hackers would have been able to reveal the electors' vote,
which is not tolerable in a democracy.”
Absolutely, it
is of incredible importance that the confidentiality and privacy of the vote
must be secured in any election, let alone one of this magnitude. However, such
deficiencies should not deter governments like the Swiss to move backward in
its progress toward greater and more widespread adoption of e-voting
technology. With this move, over one-third of Switzerland's 26 cantons will be
without access to the electronic voting system.
This follows a
recent story involving Swiss
expatriates who are calling for electronic technology for voting from
abroad. Significant progress has been made in Switzerland and in other European
countries, most notably in
Estonia, a democracy that continues to serve as a positive model of how
e-voting can be very successfully implemented.
A bigger part of
the problem with this government question is that it may now cause citizens to
question their confidence in the credibility and reliability of e-voting
technology in general. The problem here comes specifically from the Unisys
system and it should
not reflect poorly on other systems developed by other vendors.
If anything, it
further solidifies the proposition that such hacking fears, among other
possible causes of concern, need to be suitably addressed by the careful
selection of the most reputable vendors with proven track records. A robust
series of audits – before, during and after an election is held – must also be
put in place.
The decision to
repeal the Unisys-developed electronic voting system may offer some positives
to the Swiss people if the system is as “seriously flawed” as the government
report indicates. However, it is important that the government follow up as
soon as possible by pursuing another vendor and another solution in order to
keep the momentum moving forward with e-voting rather than sliding back to more
archaic and arguably even more flawed systems of voting.
