Voting results Online

» Pamela Smith and Bruce McConnell

While most voters will cast their ballots at polling stations in November, online voting has been quietly and rapidly expanding in the United States over the last decade. Over 30 states and territories allow some form of Internet voting (such as by email or through a direct portal) for some classes of voters, including members of the military or absentees.

Utah just passed a law allowing disabled voters to vote online; and Alaska allows anyone to cast their ballots online. And there were recent news reports that Democratic and Republican national committees are contemplating holding primaries and caucuses online. We estimate that over three million voters now are eligible to vote online in the U.S.

But online voting is fraught with danger. Hackers could manipulate enough votes to change the results of local and national elections. And a skilled hacker can do so without leaving any evidence.

Estonia is the world leader in using online voting for its national elections. Its government has done a great deal to improve the security of the system, which is now used by up to 25% of voters. The country’s “I-voting system” is touted by proponents of online voting in the U.S. to claim that secure Internet voting is possible.

It isn’t. Early in May an international team of independent security experts accredited by the Estonian government reported severe security vulnerabilities in that country’s “I-voting system.” Elections, the researchers found, “could be stolen, disrupted, or cast into disrepute.”

The team recommended that Estonia’s online voting system “be immediately discontinued.” One researcher, J. Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan, has said that “Estonia’s Internet voting system blindly trusts the election servers and the voters’ computers. Either of these would be an attractive target for state-level attackers, such as Russia.” Another researcher, Harri Hursti from Finland, concluded, “With today’s security technology, no country in the world is able to provide a secure Internet voting system.”