Can remote Internet voting increase turnout?

Abstract

In an effort to increase turnout at elections the UK government has been piloting electronic voting. At the 2002 local elections five councils tested remote Internet voting for the first time. Swindon Borough Council conducted the largest pilot, offering remote Internet voting to all voters. Almost 15,000 voters were surveyed as to their motivation for choosing their voting method. Turnout did increase by 3.5 per cent but it is impossible to state conclusively that this was due to the availability of the Internet voting option, since most Internet voters were already regular voters. Future pilots should allow a more conclusive assessment of the impact on turnout of remote Internet voting.

The Impact of Trust and Relative Advantage on Internet Voting Diffusion

“…Offering elections online will also make voting more accessible for young disenfranchised citizens. Harwood and McIntosh [51] found the young (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) and not surprisingly their parents (45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54) report the highest levels of home Internet access, reaching better than 61 percent. Seven of the top 10 reasons why people didn't vote (see Table 1) can be alleviated through the application of internet technology to improve accessibility.…”

“…In 2003, 29.6 million households in the U.S. took advantage of online banking, more than one-third of all stock transactions took place over the Internet, and the number of telecommuters rose to 23.5 million, a 100 percent increase from 1997 [50]. Henry [54] found Internet voting to be most appealing to citizens who use the Internet frequently.…”

“…In addition to the population at large, compatibility is one factor that will be especially appealing to younger voters, the group with the lowest turnout rates [37], [44], [54]. Alverez and Hall [6] write "Internet Voting should solve many of the pressing problems with U.S. elections and may actually stimulate the interest and participation of some groups… If a twenty-something banks online and shops online and pays taxes online, he or she will want to vote online [6]."…”

“…A few studies have begun to explore the effects of the Internet on political participation [7], [9], [54], [66], [84], [88]. However, more research is needed on the key factors that influence Internet voting adoption.…”

Will remote electronic voting systems increase participation?

“…Electronic voting is not only an issue in United States. UK government has conducted 17 pilot projects in the local and European elections to test the effects of multiple REVS (Henry, 2003). The two largest e-voting projects were conducted in Sheffield and Swindon in 2003 (Flood, 2005).…”