Should America allow voting by smartphone?

As ironic and as counterintuitive as it may sound, the “phone” part of a “smartphone” is likely one of the device's less important and least used actual function. People are using their smartphones as their primary digital cameras these days. The smartphone is also commonly used as a primary timepiece, rather than a traditional wristwatch. The standalone MP3 player has largely been replaced by the smartphone too and the same thing is happening with GPS navigation and mobile gaming. And then there is everything to do with Internet access, including web browsing, email, social media, news reading, blogging, vlogging and more.

With smartphone ownership and use at an all-time high, one technologist is positing a very compelling question: why can't we vote by smartphone too? The convenience factor is undeniable, because it means that voters can simply cast their ballot over the Internet is a truly digital and remote fashion. It doesn't matter if they are at home, at the office, on the commuter train or enjoying a cold beverage at the local cafe. As long as they can get online, access the voting portal and get verified, they can cast their ballot and they can do so weeks before the official voting day.

In many ways, this is an extension of the argument for more widespread Internet voting. There are inherently many advantages and disadvantages to online-based voting systems, like the importance of being able to properly authenticate the identity of voters and to ensure the secure and confidential transmission of the voting data over the network. These are all valid and they are just as applicable to smartphone voting as they would be to voting on an Internet-connected PC.

Interestingly enough, however, voting on a smartphone may arguably offer even more security features than a desktop computer. It has been observed that even among people who do not own a personal computer of their own, they may be more likely to own a smartphone. This allows for greater accessibility. What's more, a growing number of modern smartphones already integrate biometric verification technology. The Apple iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6, for instance, both feature a fingerprint reader for user identification. Facial recognition technology is also available. But are these security features enough to guarantee the integrity of the authentication process?

The argument made by Alissa Walker does not call for biometric authentication specifically, but this is an area that is being explored in many areas across the United States. New Mexico is one example.

There are barriers to widespread adoption of smartphone voting, such as the fact that every state has different election rules. Assuming that all security and integrity guarantees are met, voting by smartphone could become a fit option to replace postal voting, offering people the opportunity not only to order their absentee ballot online and through a smartphone, but also the ability to submit that ballot through a smartphone. The goal here is to completely digitize the absentee ballot.

An initiative named Vote by Smartphone from the group Long Distance Voter is going to offer a prototype pilot test as part of the upcoming 2016 Presidential elections in the United States. The test will be limited to just two states, but it could serve as a real-world demonstration of how this could work. Voter identity could be verified using an e-signature, like the DocuSign electronic signature technology for authentication.

Further exploration and testing is needed, but Vote By Smartphone sounds like a compelling idea and could represent a part of the democratic future in America.

South Africa Votes mobile app keeps voters informed

Source: mlive.com

While several other countries around the world have had the luxury of enjoying an open democracy for a number of generations already, the democracy in South Africa is still in its relative infancy. The fifth election in the nation was held on May 7 of this year and it was the first election held in South Africa since the death of Nelson Mandela. There is still much to be learned and the system still has a lot of room to grow, mature and improve.

As the concept of an open democracy with universal adult suffrage is still relatively new to the people of South Africa, seeing how apartheid only ended in 1994, the Mail & Guardian launched the SA Votes mobile app leading up to the May election. Although the app didn't have any direct impact on how the election was run or the technology that was used in creating and maintaining the voter list, recording and tabulating ballots, or so forth, it did help to add an important dose of technology and modernity into the South African system.

Made available both as an Android app and an iOS app, SA Votes strove to provide the people of South Africa and all interested people around the world with a “constantly updated source for quality news articles, opinion pieces, videos and slideshows about the election.” The content was curated by the Mail & Guardian and the app allowed users to easily access, comment and share the content from the app to their friends.

It is important to have a reliable and secure infrastructure in place for any general election and the elections in South Africa will continue to improve, but the first goal is to educate and inform the public. An informed electorate is better able to make educated decisions about who should get their vote, rather than basing their voting decisions on misinformation and propaganda. “We hope voters will use the app to arm themselves with the knowledge they need to vote responsibly,” said M&G Editor-in-Chief Chris Roper.

The 2014 general election in South Africa was notable for a number of reasons. It not only continues the young tradition of democracy in the country, but it is also the first election in which the “born-free” generation were able to cast their ballot. These are the young voters who were born after the 1994 general election when the apartheid era ended in South Africa. The number of total registered voters was encouraging; 80.5% of the 31.4 million eligible voters were registered ahead of the election, including 2.3 million new voters. An additional 26,000 international voters were also registered to cast their ballot from abroad, mostly from London, Dubai and Canberra.

While it can never be accurately determined how much of an impact the SA Votes app had on the outcome of the election, it does point toward the increasing use of technology in the country and perhaps the increased use of technology in the actual administration of future elections. The African National Congress (ANC) party won the National Assembly election with a majority vote of 62.1%, which is slightly lower than the 65.9% it achieved in the 2009 election. Opinion polls conducted by Ipsos Pulse of the People and Sunday Times leading up to the May election were in line with the final result.

People from more developed countries like Canada and France have come to take public information and public scrutiny for granted. It is assumed that the electorate can be reasonably educated and informed about the issues. In a younger democracy like South Africa, this may not have always been the case. The introduction of the SA Votes mobile app is one step toward having a more educated and informed electorate, one that will continue to be better able to make their voting decisions more wisely.