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The U.S. presidential race hinges on the electoral outcome in Florida, where the difference is being measured in hundreds out of the millions of ballots--some of which were cast online.

A pilot program by the U.S. Department of Defense allowed about 200 service people stationed overseas, their families, and some other civilians to vote online. Two Florida regions are among the five taking part in the experiment.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program helps service members and civilians stationed or traveling overseas vote in federal elections, says Susan Hansen, a Defense Department public affairs officer. "After the last general election in 1996, it became clear that people had trouble receiving their ballots from their local voting offices," she says.

The program is exploring Internet voting as an alternative for people with computer access, she says. Also participating are South Carolina, Dallas County in Texas, and Weber County in Utah. "We'll assess this project for reliability and ease of use," Hansen says. "But I have no way of knowing if these votes are the ones that will decide this election."

Absentee ballots of service people could be the executioner's axe hanging over the head of the two presidential candidates. As absentee ballots trickle in, they may tip the uneasy balance.

Online military votes mostly went to George W. Bush, says Pat Hollern, Okaloosa County supervisor of elections. Some didn't vote, and some have left the service, she says. Two special forces operatives were in "classified locations" beyond the reach of both the long virtual arm of the Internet and regular mail.

"Two-thirds voted from home," Hollern says. "When [absentee] ballots were available to everyone, they could download their own ballot, but only their own. When they got online to vote, that's the only ballot they could get." All ballots, encrypted, were returned by Monday night, she says.

Speedier Returns Online?

If online voting were commonplace, we might already know Florida's tally, says Jonathan Zittrain, head of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. But serious changes in the national political dialogue could result, he says. (See "Would E-Voting Help Avoid Cliffhangers?")

"Would it lead to a different kind of election? A rolling vote, maybe? You can imagine the drive to get out the vote as the numbers came in," he says.

Security is of paramount concern. The possibility of a "hacktivist" altering the vote count, particularly in a close race like this one, is a concern.

"This experiment was small enough and controlled enough not to raise serious questions," says Lorrie Cranor, a security systems researcher for AT&T. "But given the closeness of the race in Florida...nobody thought it would be this close."

Cranor says she would be surprised if problems occurred with the online votes in Florida. But she cites significant security hurdles to online voting on a larger scale. The home PC would need to be secure, and voters would have to install complicated software.

"Any system we could build today that would come close to the needed level of security for a national election would be very hard for an average person to use," says Cranor. "We couldn't use standard browsers, and we would need a way to authenticate users, like passwords or encryption keys."

New Medium, New Issues

Security isn't the only concern. Online voting could change the nature of our democracy, according to some observers.

"The other issue it raises is the kind of speech we'll hear. The strongest speech people see when they're voting is the speech when they're going to the ballot," Zittrain says, noting the gauntlet of banner-waving, placard-carrying, leaflet-distributing campaigners outside polling places.

On the other hand, there's no hundred-yard rule in cyberspace. Internet voting could draw online ads from campaign advertising budgets, which hit $3 billion this year. (See "E-Voting Steps Closer.")

Many of Florida's online voting test subjects avoided the onslaught of campaign advertising, thanks to their distant locations. But Florida is their home.

"They weren't strangers coming in at the last minute," says Hollern, the county election supervisor. The Defense Department sought volunteers for the pilot program through base newspapers and Internet advertisements. "We already had their information, their signatures. They were eligible for absentee ballots."

Okaloosa County supports military voters at Eglin Air Force Base and added about $2500 in gear, including an ISDN line, for the project.

"This is not a voting system. This is an alternative absentee-ballot submission system," Hollern says. "This is the beginning. This is the Wright brothers' airplane. This will be improved."