As the world's
second largest country by population and the world's largest democracy overall,
India certainly faces more than its fair share of bureaucratic and logistical
challenges in addressing the needs of its citizens. The economy is growing and
jobs are being created, but living conditions for many Indian residents
continues to be wearisome. And with this many people anxious to have their
voices heard for how to move the country forward, capturing their intentions on
Election Day can be a logistical and administrative nightmare.
One strategy
that has been making significant progress in recent years is the rising
adoption of electronic voting technology, particularly as it pertains to the
possibility of an Internet-based online voting solution. It has been said by
the Central Election Commission that a
new e-voting system will be introduced soon and this will help
significantly with reducing or even eliminating the issues surrounding
extraordinarily long queues on voting day.
The appeal of
being able to cast a ballot online is multi-faceted, going beyond the
convenience of avoiding long lineups on Election Day. The simple convenience of
being able to vote from home or even on a mobile device is undeniable, as is
the ease of access for people who may have geographic or physical challenges to
overcome. This should help with improving
voter turnout too.
What's more,
it's said that voting online would help to mitigate issues related to the
intimidating attempts made by “goons paid for by the local leaders” that have
become a problem at voting places.
The benefits for
the government and for the electoral commission cannot be understated either,
by reducing the wastage of paper and other resources that are needed to run a
more physically-oriented election.
This all sounds
very good, but it's also increasingly clear that much more work remains to be
done. The e-voting and online voting solution appears to be working, but the
registration process for i-voting has been nothing short of a catastrophic
debacle. The Gujarat Congress issued
a statement decrying the lack of adequate preparation on the part of the
State Election Commission in its execution of the online voting system.
More
specifically, it says that some 20,000 citizens “had registered for online
voting, but necessary details for registrations were not timely shared with
them by SEC.” While the SEC had sent the required usernames and passwords to
registrants, the required weblink was not included. What's more, because of
further technical complications and challenges, registered voters could not
even complete the activation of the e-voting process.
The logistics of
the situation were further exacerbated as the convenience of voting from home
was nullified. Registrants were told to visit a local office in person to
complete a verification form, but upon arrival, they were told to go to the
magistrate office for even further verification. This is no longer convenient
at all and, as such, more preparation in preparing the infrastructure for
e-voting and i-voting is clearly required.
All is not lost
and other democracies around the world can look to India to address problems
with their own e-voting and i-voting systems in a more pre-emptive manner.
Moving forward, India endeavors to make it easier for
non-residents to vote online too and the recent mandates toward this goal
should spur on further progress and development.
