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WASHINGTON--Voters could soon cast ballots online at public kiosks or even at the polls, but not at home, says a study released today from the National Science Foundation and the Internet Policy Institute.

"We're certainly not ready for it now," says David Cheney, a researcher with the Internet Policy Institute, an educational institute funded in part by the National Science Foundation, a federally funded independent agency.

The technical dangers of viruses, spoof Web sites, and platform compatibility that come from voting at any independent Internet-connected terminal must be solved at the same time as social issues like the digital divide, Cheney says. Collectively, these issues pose a risk that is too significant for the convenience of remote Internet voting to overshadow the numerous security problems.

"I don't think anyone ever thought it would replace traditional voting," says C.D. Mote, president of the University of Maryland and chair of the Internet Policy Institute voting task force. Online voting at poll sites and mall kiosks would be an additional service, he adds.

Punch Card, Machine, or Browser?

Poll site online voting should be the first step because identification in that venue is the most secure, according to the study. It could even be responsibly deployed within the next several election cycles. Assuming success in this venue, similar technology could later be applied to kiosk voting terminals in public places like malls.

Study findings are drawn from a discussion among 35 panel members with backgrounds in technology, social science, elections, and law enforcement, and an analysis of the panelists' work, says Richard Schum, project director. Born out of a White House request in December 1999 for the National Science Foundation to study Internet voting, this survey is being distributed to the Bush administration and Congress.

Another study of voting and technology conducted last month by the California and Massachusetts Institutes of Technology finds electronic voting as currently implemented has performed worse than was widely believed.

Early Efforts Primitive

Any proposals should involve "guidelines for these new technologies, instead of recommending rigid rules," Schum says. "We have to leave room for innovation. Who knows what'll be the next big technology for voter authentication--biometrics? Voice recognition?"

Two states are already experimenting with online technologies for voting, says Schum. Arizona's Democratic primary used Election.com to offer online voting, and Alaska ran a Republican "straw poll" through Votehere.net. But whether other states will take up the experiment has yet to be seen. Some say it may ultimately come down to a question of cost.

"The expense of putting such mechanisms in place will depend on the specific system," Cheney says. "And right now it's hard to say how the cost will compare to traditional systems."