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Online voting debate rages in run-up to election
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- The U.S. elections on Tuesday will not only pick a president but could herald the start of a new American revolution as online voting tests in California and Arizona provide a glimpse of democracy in cyberspace. But is the Internet the 21st century's land of the free and home of the brave? Proponents claim that voting with just a click of a mouse will spark a dramatic reversal in dwindling American voter participation, while opponents say it opens a Pandora's box of problems ranging from threatened national security to introducing a new class division to the electoral process. "The Internet is changing politics and online voting is going to take several shapes," said Jim Adler, chief executive of Bellevue, Washington-based Votehere.net, which is running the online trials for the November 7 presidential election. In the pilot, people were able to cast online votes at early poll sites in San Diego, California, from October 23-27 and in Sacramento, California, from October 30 through election day. In Arizona, the online trial will take place on election day at one Phoenix-area polling place. None of these online votes will count toward the final presidential tally. By this time next year, however, Adler predicts his company's equipment will be certified in nearly 40 states and that many states will be tallying online votes for real. "We're advocating evolution, not revolution," said Adler, who believes online voting will begin at polls before it moves to "remote" voting via the Internet from almost anywhere. "Our time frame is by 2001, there will be pollside online voting and within two to three years, remote voting will be fairly widespread," said a spokeswoman for Votehere.net, which has partnered with computer giant Compaq Computer Corp. to offer online voting technology on a desktop computer. But many believe a slower approach is needed. "People want to vote (online) anytime from anywhere, but security experts have come up with some pretty frightening scenarios that could arise in an election," said David Cheney, of the Internet Policy Institute (IPI), a nonprofit group that conducted a recent workshop -- requested by the White House -- to examine the feasibility of Internet voting. Easier but less secureWhile it can make voting easier and cheaper, issues such as security and reliability need to be addressed before any such systems are adopted by the states, Cheney said. "For instance, could someone put up a virus like the 'Love Bug' on your computer that would sit quietly until Election Day and then redirect votes or take control of computers? These things are hard to defend and hard to detect," he said. Opponents also are concerned about voter fraud and discrimination as online voting furthers the "digital divide" between those with access to computers and those without. In March, Arizona Democrats used the Internet for the first time to cast ballots in a legally binding election in that state's presidential primary race. Nearly 40,000 Arizona Democrats cast online ballots in the polling conducted by Garden City, New Jersey-based Election.com. A voter group tried to stop the election with a lawsuit on behalf of a Hispanic woman and an African-American man, charging the plan discriminated against the poor and minorities. While officials called the election a success, voting experts tempered their enthusiasm, saying it was only a closed, primary race and that privacy, security and social concerns still remain, particularly for national elections. In addition to these concerns, Deborah Phillips, president of the Voting Integrity Project, a prominent Arlington, Virginia-based voter group also believes that Web-based companies and other voter-related Web services need scrutiny. She and other voting experts said the Internet was already being used to distort the electoral process. "Someone set up a Web auction ... to prove that if candidates can sell their votes to companies, why shouldn't individuals receive money for their votes," the Internet Policy Institute's Cheney said. "The challenge in selling votes is to prove you voted. With online voting, you can record your vote and get paid for it," he said. "It's a new wrinkle on this consideration for online voting," Phillips said. Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. RELATED STORIES: Embattled vote auction site returns to the Web RELATED SITES: VoteHere.net
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