Nowadays, many matters and formalities can be taken care of without leaving home. Banking, ZUS or official matters in the Trust Profile can now be taken care of online.
We are increasingly open to the possibilities of online services and we use, for example, bank accounts and transfers with greater conviction. Such technological solutions are also us in the voting process.
Information about e-voting reaches us from all over the world. Is such a solution already available in Poland? Internet voting around the world
Voting processes have been constantly evolving since the rapid development of the Internet in the 1990s. In Europe, online voting is developing most dynamically in Estonia. This country introduc this method of voting in 2005 for local elections.
Voting involv scanning a microchip from an ID card. Voting began 14 days before the elections and it was still possible to change one’s mind until the day before. Initially, the approach to this method was skeptical, and data security on the network became a problem. However,
Estonians have striv to constantly croatia telephone number data improve the system, which brought results in the 2019 European Parliament elections – one third of voters chose to vote online. E-voting is also becoming increasingly popular in Belgium, Switzerland, and overseas – in the USA and Canada.
The problem of lack of time
Solutions are being sought that internet marketing – 5 most popular tools would make it easier and more efficient for citizens to cast their votes. Many people, despite their sincere desire, are unable to be at the designat voting location on a given day. People are now often “citizens of the world”, living abroad or working mobile and would appreciate the opportunity to fulfill their civic duties online.
In the previous elections to the European Parliament, 45.7% of Poles cast their vote, i.e. more than half of us did not participate in them. What is more, voting via the Internet, in the broader perspective, seems to be a saving for the state – cutting the costs associat with running electoral commissions and opening polling stations.
It allows for immiate results and eliminates the possibility of fraud. So why is it still not possible to vote via the Internet in Poland?
Controversy over Internet voting
The many advantages of the e-voting method do not exclude the doubts that arise around it. The Internet is an area of activity not only commercial and legal, but also hacking. Dishonest people always try to find a way to circumvent the law and find a loophole in the system.
Outstanding computer minds are employ who are able to break even the computer systems of the US government.
More on this topic can be found in the film “Hacking Democracy” produc by HBO or in the book “Non-volatile Memory” by bahrain leads former CIA employee ward Snowden, in which he describes, among other things, the mass surveillance of our activities on the network by the government. In order to create a secure voting system via the Internet, it would be necessary to employ encryption system specialists who could be trust.
Software and such infrastructure are currently not small costs. The company producing the equipment should also be trust, the desire for manipulation can be suspect everywhere. The issue of trust is a problem both in stationary voting and voting via the Internet.
Issues such as the proper counting of valid votes, the absence of duplicates, cancellations or modifications, and blocking bots are challenges for security systems. However, the most difficult obstacle to overcome seems to be the most important state document, the Constitution, which states that elections must be universal, direct and secret.
Does the Internet guarantee the fulfillment of these requirements? Can online vote trading be prevent?
What about Poland?
Our country is ready for Internet voting in terms of technology, but public discussion on the subject is practically non-existent, and the prominance of older people in society will certainly not spe up this process. The government in Poland will certainly not allocate (significant) funds for technological systems that are not currently necessary.
The stationary method of voting is also not ideal, but the most important aspect of successful and democratic elections is simply the voting of the entire society. It seems that the first step to start the path towards Internet voting is to raise this issue in the mia and further social initiative.