Internet voting technologies and civic participation: the users's perspective

Oostveen, Anne-Marie (author), Besselaar, Peter van den (author)

In many places e-voting technologies are under development, and an intensive theoretical and normative debate is taking place about the pros and cons. We investigate the opinions of the users of this type of technologies, as this is crucial for the shaping and acceptance of the technology. We did not use a survey, but held 14 intensive discussion sessions in different countries with voters and organisers of ballots, using the focus groups methodology. We found consensus that e-voting will not influence turnout. The motivation to start with e-voting therefore seems mainly financial, aiming at reducing costs. This suggests that in the future e-voting will replace traditional ways of voting, and therefore the digital divide can be expected to influence the participation in and the outcome of ballots. Finally, although most respondents expect that e-voting may improve (especially local) democracy through a combination of voting technologies with technologies for supporting deliberation and information dissemination, it remains unclear how this should be done. More detailed studies into political participation and the subtle roles of ICT's herein are needed, as this can inform the design of adequate technologies for e-democracy

• Language: English
• Work type: Not categorized
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Year: 2004
• Number of pages: Str. 61-78
• Numbering: Vol. 11, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-75281
• UDC: 659.3/.4
• ISSN on article: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 23325533
• Publication date in RUL: 21.12.2015

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Javnost = The public
• Shortened title: Javnost
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis, European Institute for Communication and Culture
• ISSN: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 40119808

Secondary language

• Language: Unknown
• Title: Internetne glasovalne tehnologije in državljanska participacija z vidika uporabnikov

Abstract

Mnogokje se razvijajo tehnologije elektronskega glasovanja, z njimi pa razprave o njihovih dobrih in slabih straneh. Avtorja raziskujeta uporabnike teh tehnologij, kar je usodno za oblikovanje in usvajanje tehnologije. S 14 fokusnimi skupinami volivcev in organizatorjev volitev so bile organizirane intenzivne razprave v različnih državah. Skupna ugotovitev je bila, da elektronsko glasovanje ne bo povečalo volilno udeležbo. Razlog za uvedbo elektronskega glasovanja je videti predvsem finančne narave, da bi zmanjšali stroške. Videti je, da bo v prihodnje elektronsko glasovanje nadomestilo klasične volitve, s tem pa bo digitalno ločevanje lahko vplivalo na udeležbo in izid volitev. Čeprav večina respondentov pričakuje, da lahko elektronsko glasovanje izboljša (zlasti lokalno) demokracijo s kombinacijo glasovalne tehnologije in tehnologij za podporo razpravljanju, ostaja nejasno, kako naj bi to storili. Za načrtovanje ustreznih tehnologij za elektronsko demokracijo so potrebne izčrpnejše raziskave politične participacije in vloge informacijsko-komunikacijske tehnologije.