Election administrators' perceptions of verifiable online voting and its use in local elections

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29379/jedem.v16i3.912

Keywords:

verifiability, online voting, election administration, Canada, municipal elections

Abstract

Canada is the longest user of online voting in municipal elections and has primarily used non-verifiable systems, raising concerns about the integrity of election results and public and administrator confidence in the process. In the 2022 Ontario municipal elections, 9% of municipalities offered online voters the option of individual verifiability. To better understand the considerations and challenges of introducing verifiability mechanisms in local elections, this article explores municipal administrators' perceptions and understanding of verifiable online voting through three focus groups with local governments in Ontario, Canada: (1) users of verifiable online voting systems,(2) users of non-verifiable systems, and (3) those without online voting. We find deeper reasonings for selecting non-verifiable online voting systems, such as administrators' perceptions of voters' needs and the perceived value of transparency. To enhance the adoption of verifiable online voting, the article suggests promoting the value and meaning of verifiability among all stakeholders.

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Author Biographies

Iuliia Spycher-Krivonosova, University of Bern, Switzerland

Dr. Iuliia Spycher-Krivonosova is a postdoc at the Competence Center for Public Management at the University of Bern. She is a part of the interuniversity research group under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Adrian Ritz working on the research project “The role of governance in public sector digitalization” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Iuliia’s research has been published in leading outlets, such as Policy Studies, Public Money and Management, Election Law Journal, Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Before joining University of Bern, Iuliia worked as a Junior Research Fellow at the Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia and as a Scientific Consultant for Brock University, Canada focusing on the topic of electronic voting. Outside academia, Iuliia serves as a consultant for governmental and international organizations such as Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe or International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance on the questions of digitalization.

Nicole Goodman, Brock University, Canada

Dr. Nicole Goodman is an associate professor of Political Science at Brock University. Her research examines the impact of technology on civic participation and democracy. Her work has appeared in top journals and is frequently consulted by municipal, Indigenous and federal governments, not-for-profit organizations, parliamentary committees and international governments. Nicole is currently in her second term representing Canada on the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) Board of Advisers. She also serves as co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Political Science.

Aleksander Essex, Western University, Canada

Aleksander Essex is an associate professor of software engineering at Western University, Canada. His research specializes in cybersecurity and cryptography, focusing on the cyber risks of online voting. He co-initiated the Digital Governance Standards Institute’s voluntary standard on online voting and has advised numerous election agencies, including many Ontario municipalities, as well as Elections Ontario, Elections Northwest Territories, Elections Yukon, the National Association of Aboriginal Lands Managers Association, the Swiss Federal Chancellery, and the Australian Capital Territory Election Commission.

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Published

02.10.2024

How to Cite

Spycher-Krivonosova, I., Goodman, N., & Essex, A. (2024). Election administrators’ perceptions of verifiable online voting and its use in local elections . JeDEM - EJournal of EDemocracy and Open Government, 16(3). https://doi.org/10.29379/jedem.v16i3.912

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 3 (2024): Special Issue e-Vote Conference

Section

Special Issue: e-Vote Conference

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Iuliia Spycher-Krivonosova, Nicole Goodman, Aleksander Essex

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


JeDEM is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal (ISSN: 2075-9517). All journal content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

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