Well, can you think of any reason that would hold up to a moment’s common sense why Elections Canada wouldn’t implement an online voting system? I seriously doubt it. You might think that there could be a serious threat of hackers interfering with election results. Granted, that is a possibility. But, the risk of hackers rigging elections is no more threatening than someone manipulating main-in votes.
Considering the current methods which Canadian citizens have to vote, such as voting by mail, an online voting system would be at least equally secure and it would reach out to the elusive youth vote.
“The government already offers online submission that is secure enough when you file your taxes, claim your EI, or apply for student loans…”
Canadians have a lot of democratic privileges that are too commonly neglected. Citizens have a variety of methods to cast their ballot. Sure, you could go vote in your riding on election day, but you could just as easily vote at your local Elections Canada office or during an advance poll. You can even arrange to vote by mail. And mail poses the best comparison to what we can imagine an online voting system might be like.
So, lets take a closer look at how voting by mail works. According to “Ways to Vote” on Elections Canada’s website, if you opt to vote by mail (or if circumstances, like working away from home, demand you vote by mail), then you must register early. Elections Canada assures us that your application to vote by mail will be processed quickly (“Ways to Vote”), but they cannot account for the duration your application is in the mail, and you can imagine that’s what really slows down the process the most.
In order to counteract the length of time it takes for the voter to receive their ballot, they suggest you fax your application to them (“Ways to Vote”), which I think sounds like more of a hassle than dropping it off in the mail box. I mean, it’s not like I own a fax machine. I imagine that’s the same for most Canadians. And how secure is my vote as it is in transit? Elections Canada instructs voters to seal their ballot inside three envelopes and hope you posted it in time to reach them before polling closes on election day (“Ways to Vote”). Three envelopes, hunh? That’s impressive.
However, many Canadians have access to a computer and the Internet. As indicated by Statistics Canada’s “Canadian Internet Use Survey,” 98 per cent of Canadians aged 16 to 24 had internet access in 2009. This indicates that the Internet could be a ridiculously accessible means for youth voters, yet somehow our government has overlooked this clear opportunity. Additionally, the speed of processing voter registration applications could be significantly improved by bypassing the postal system. That should go without saying. It should also go without saying that if voters submit ballots from their own computers which might be protected with even the shoddiest anti-virus software, then that exceeds the level of protection that three envelopes might provide.
Even when I consider the threat of real, experienced, black hat hackers attempting to interfere with elections, I cannot help but think that if Canada can’t provide the security to protect an online voting system, then we have got some serious problems here. The government already offers online submission that is secure enough when you file your taxes, claim your EI, or apply for student loans, so it’s more than a bit ludicrous that haven’t already provided an online form that list less than half a dozen candidates and asks you to CHOOSE ONE.
“I have no doubt that youth voter turnout would increase if Canada were to implement an online voting system.”
The ease of accessibility that an online voting system would provide could also be invaluable in getting Canadian youth to vote. By no means do I think the youth in Canada are all lazy, apathetic, and ignorant, but even if you (or our current government) hold this belief, it’s still hard to deny that youth wouldn’t take 20 minutes to register and vote online. Just look at how the Internet has helped spread democratic ideals through the Middle East through something as unsuspecting as social networking. The Globe and Mail reports that Canadian youth are already using the Internet to rally support. Steven Chase reported just yesterday (April 4) that university students in Guelph surprised Prime Minister Harper at a campaign event, carrying banners exclaiming “Surprise! We are voting.” Students who organized the protest also posted a video to YouTube, calling for the youth to vote (Chase).
We know Canadian youth both have access to the Internet and they are quite proficient in its use. I have no doubt that youth voter turnout would increase if Canada were to implement an online voting system. I’m sure it would increase voter turnout in more mature voters as well. Statistics Canada also reports that 66% of Canadians over 45 were online in 2009, up from just 56 per cent two years prior (“Canadian Internet Use Survey”). All the numbers suggest that the internet is the most accessible medium to Canadians, and accessibility is highest amongst Canadian youth. Simply by providing an online voting option, it’s difficult to imagine how it could be any worse than the present electoral process.
After taking a moment to consider the current methods for casting our ballots, it ought to be clear that an online voting system would be a tremendous tool for democracy in Canada. So why hasn’t Elections Canada acted on this clear reality? It boggles my mind.
Dave Reynolds is an English prof at MUN. Visit his blog Davaflava, here.
WORKS CITED
“Canadian Internet Use Survey.” Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada. 10 May 2010. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/100510/dq100510a-eng.htm
Chase, Steven. “Harper gets an earful from students: Surprise. ‘We are voting.’” The Globe and Mail. Phillip Crawley. 4 Apr. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/harper-gets-an-earful-from-students-surprise-we-are-voting/article1970607/
“Ways to Vote.” Elections Canada. Elections Canada. Apr. 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=bkg&document=ec90541&lang=e
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if we trust our banking systems online we can do this. Link it to your SIN number. I would like to see this online experience taken even further and have the public dictate budgets as well.
One day the people will truly run the country and it can be done through technology and make everyone accountable. We can fire all the politicians and stop the gross mis-use of public money and direction of the country.
R clearly doesn’t know what s/he’s talking about. I’ve used many of the online GoC services, and the security is so uptight its actually become a pain in the arse.
Use the same systems as RCA and Service Can. Require your health card or drivers license number for varification that its a legitiment ballot, a unique security code that has to be mailed out by Elections Canada, and limit when online voting can take place.
Frankly I’m ticked that this isn’t available, as I have absolutely no way of getting to the polls tomorrow and voting isn’t allowed outside your riding.
Wow, this article takes naivete to a whole new level. It doesn’t even contemplate the huge amounts of electronic fraud that are already going on in online banking, credit card systems, online viruses etc. Nor does it even acknowledge the profound differences between a system with extensive paper backups going back years, highly developed fraud tracking mechanisms, and minimal reasons for outside interference like Revenue Canada individual tax form submissions, and a federal election for one of the richest countries on the planet.
The snailmail comparison is funny and, from a rhetorical perspective, little more than a joke. You can rip open those 3 envelopes but, short of trashing the vote, you can’t change the vote successfully without creating an invalid ballot. And again, all the registered mail carriers from your home to the balloting facility can be tracked and a corrupt employee easily found. Anyone suggesting they can do the same with a thousand electronic votes that get flipped while wandering in a thousand different ways through the jungles of the internet? If so, call Norton, they’ll pay you millions. Yeesh.
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The answer is our government wants to AVOID the youth vote at all costs as the youth vote would surely go against the conservative vote of the older generation. One easy way to do that is to ‘legally’ prevent access by making it extremely difficult for them to cast a vote.
Why are we still using ballots that have to be counted manually? Many municipalities have switched to ballots that are machine readable and that reduces the time required to examine and count ballots manually. Its time for Elections Canada to come into the 21st century and use modern technology to record our vote.
The governement of Canada needs to wake up. There are so many people using the internet these days that I am sure that people who don’t go to the poles will vote online, I know I would. There would be alot more votes being cast online, along with the votes cast at polling stations. The people of Canada need to be heard and the only way that is going to happen is if we have the right to choose weather we vote online or at the polling station.
We should not let the government of Canada dictate our lives and provide us with the options that we entitled too.
Another interesting point is that you cannot vote by proxy (which is quite common in for shareholders’ meetings). I have a friend living in China right now and there is no way that she can apply to vote by mail and have all the documents make it to/from China in time. She wanted to send her ballot to me to fill out but I cannot legally do it. This is also something which could be alleviated by online voting.
Good article. I also agree that we should be able to vote online. I don’t see how the government can’t implement the same security measures that it does for tax purposes.
But you have to question why the current government would bother trying to implement tools which may help get the youth vote out. My guess is that the Conservatives have the least percentage of youth support of any major party. It might be worth looking into who calls these shots? Elections Canada as an autonomous body or does it require government approval?
That being said, I don’t think the “lack of easy accessibility” of which many people, especially young ones, complain is an excuse for not voting. Considering people in other countries are literally dying to vote, or have to line up for an entire day to do so, it makes Canadians look like unappreciative babies when they say “why can’t I just stay home and vote online”. If people educated themselves and realized that their employers are legally required to give them time off work during the day to vote, they would avoid the long lines and the last minute post-supper rush to the polls. Unfortunately, most people view voting as a choice and not as a duty and would rather slip into a food-induced coma and watch primetime tv then particpate in their country.
I appreciate that this has turned into a bit of a rant and perhaps strayed from the article’s focus, but voter apathy has always baffled and infuriated me.
An article on cbc today quoted MP John Baird saying that he doesn’t know what a flash mob is (and I’m assuming he’s probably never used YouTube either). I think with that level of knowledge at the top it may be a long time before Ottawa is ready for online voting.
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