Privacy Watch

Can the Internet Save Democracy?

With the Florida fiasco serving as a catalyst for sweeping changes, in the current rush to devise new election technology we could easily overlook the importance of a secret ballot. To prevent a new vote-counting debacle, we need to guarantee that any new voting method does more than provide a rapid turnaround of election results. It must earn our trust.

Despite the risks, a lot of people want a home Internet voting solution. The ability to vote from home could be incredibly convenient for a Web-connected household, potentially increasing voter turnout for future elections. And local election boards, wary of the cost involved in bringing technology into the polling place, are also looking at the bright side of Internet voting, which could reduce the costs of elections to mere pennies per vote cast.

The companies developing Internet voting systems tout their creations as the best, easiest, and most cost-efficient way to hold elections. With nonbinding tests of Internet elections held in three California counties and a legally binding primary election in Arizona last year, it might seem likely that, at least in some parts of the country, people might be able to vote from home using the Internet--at least by the next presidential election.

One of these companies, Safevote, says it has developed a method of voting over the Internet that guarantees privacy while authenticating voters--a step beyond the security claims made on the Election.com Web site. Safevote company founder and president Ed Gerck (who also founded and chairs the Internet Voting Technology Alliance and publishes a newsletter about Internet voting technology, edited by Safevote.com's communications director) believes proprietary technology being developed by his company can overcome the Internet's inherent privacy limitations. "We think voter privacy is so important it must be fail-safe," he says.