Elections and the Internet: On the Difficulties of ‘Upgrading’ Elections in the Digital Era

Mendez, Fernando

doi:10.1080/00344893.2010.518098

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Switzerland's approach to i-voting is best described as cautious and strongly shaped by its decentralized structures (Gerlach & Gasser 2009, Mendez 2010). In the initial phase, i-voting experimentation was limited to three cantons: Geneva, Neuchâtel, and Zurich.…”

Section: Internet Voting In Switzerlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internet voting and turnout: Evidence from Switzerland

Germann

Serdült

2017

Electoral Studies

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Internet voting (i-voting) is often discussed as a potential remedy against declining turnout rates. This paper presents new evidence on the causal effect of i-voting on turnout, drawing on trials conducted in two Swiss cantons: Geneva and Zurich. Both Geneva and Zurich constitute hard cases for i-voting, given that i-voting was introduced in the presence of postal voting. However, this setting allows us to test some of the more optimistic claims regarding i-voting's ability to increase turnout. Empirically, we exploit the advantageous circumstance that federal legislation created a situation coming close to a natural experiment, with some of Geneva's and Zurich's municipalities participating in i-voting trials and others not. Using difference-indifferences estimation, we find that i-voting did not increase turnout in the cantons of Geneva and Zurich.

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Section: Internet Voting In Switzerlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internet voting and turnout: Evidence from Switzerland

Germann

Serdült

2017

Electoral Studies

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“…Whereas Estonia is the first and, thus far, only country to have fully generalised online voting (Alvarez et al, 2009), Switzerland boasts the highest number of online voting trials. Unlike in Estonia however, the Swiss internet voting roll-out has remained piecemeal and at an experimental stage, far from full generalisation (Mendez, 2010;). Switzerland's record number of i-voting trials is owed largely to its unrivalled high number of referendum votes (Serdült, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Opportunities for research on i-voting are increasingly limited. Against earlier cyber-optimism, the majority of countries that experimented with i-voting in the early 2000s have now abandoned the idea, including the United Kingdom, France and the United States (Kersting & Baldersheim, 2004;Mendez, 2010;Trechsel & Mendez, 2005). Recently, Norway also stopped its programme after two technically successful pilots in 2011 and 2013.…”

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confidence: 99%

Internet Voting for Expatriates: The Swiss Case

Germann¹,

Serdült²

2014

JeDEM

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In 2008 the first Swiss canton introduced internet voting for expatriates, thus initiating the second phase in Switzerland’s piecemeal i-voting roll-out. More cantons soon followed, and as of this writing expatriates from 12 out of the 26 cantons can vote online. This paper focuses on the second phase involving expatriates. We address three questions at the core of the internet voting research agenda. First, the popularity question: to what extent do expatriates make use of the new online channel? Second, the ‘who’ question: what is the profile of the typical expatriate i-voter? Finally, the turnout question: did the extension of internet voting to the expatriates have an effect on electoral mobilization? Our findings indicate that the online channel is very popular among expatriates, both if compared to other trials in Switzerland itself and internationally. On the other hand, known patterns regarding the profile of i-voters and the effect on mobilization seem to be also replicated in the expatriate trials. Expatriate i-voters tend to be young, male, and there is some evidence of an upper-class bias. Thus, usage of the online channel seems driven by the digital divide also among expatriates. Moreover, we find some evidence that i-voting did not affect electoral mobilization, similarly to trials involving residents.

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“…It seemed a rather straightforward innovation and accordingly during the early 2000s a large number of European democracies adopted e-voting programmes. More than a decade later the successful roll out of e-voting is limited at best to a handful of cases (Mendez 2010). One of these countries is Switzerland, yet it is a non-EU member state and its e-voting system is predominantly used for its system of direct democracy which involves frequent votes (approximately four referendum votes a year on multiple items) rather than parliamentary elections.…”

Section: Ict and Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

EU Democracy and E-Democracy: Can the Two Be Reconciled?

Mendez

2012

Democracy in Transition

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For many observers neither EU-democracy nor e-democracy exist in any meaningful sense. With regard to the latter this is certainly the case, though this does not mean that we are not witnessing innovative experimentation with information and communication technologies (ICT) in the democratic realm. This chapter focuses on the prospects for e-democratic experimentation in the EU political setting. Drawing on normative democratic theory we look at four dimensions of e-democratic innovation: ICT techniques aimed at improving mechanisms of (1) representation, (2) participation and (3) deliberation and (4) opening new channels of contestation. The aim of the chapter is to survey some recent edemocratic innovations within the framework of these four broader normative visions and, in doing so, investigate the potential impact of ICT driven innovation on EU democratisation.

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Elections and the Internet: On the Difficulties of ‘Upgrading’ Elections in the Digital Era

Cited by 12 publications

References 12 publications

Internet voting and turnout: Evidence from Switzerland

Internet voting and turnout: Evidence from Switzerland

Internet Voting for Expatriates: The Swiss Case

EU Democracy and E-Democracy: Can the Two Be Reconciled?

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