Would Introducing Online Voting be Good For Democracy in the UK?
Written by Nathan Cohen, intern at Unlock Democracy
Promoting greater participation
The UK General Election on 4th July 2024 saw one of the lowest turnouts in British democratic history, with less than 60% of registered voters turning up at polling stations to vote. Turnout was particularly low amongst young voters; estimates categorised 18-24 year olds as the age group least likely to vote. [1]
This shockingly low turnout can be attributed to a range of factors, however the logistical inconveniences of voting at a polling station plays an undeniably significant role in the decision of many voters to stay at home.
By introducing online voting, the process of political participation would become far more accessible, almost certainly increasing turnout - with research from Broadband Genie finding that 72% of apathetic voters would use an online voting system - thus encouraging 4.9 million new voters. [2]
Evidently, the introduction of online voting as an alternative to voting in polling stations must be seriously considered by any government looking to reinvigorate political participation.
Countries embracing online voting
Online voting is currently used in a number of countries. Most notably, Estonia has allowed remote electronic voting for local, national and European elections since 2005 - with the option being open to the entire electorate. In 2023, 51% of voters in the Estonian national elections voted electronically. [3]
Meanwhile, online voting has been introduced for voters abroad in France, Pakistan and Panama, whilst Armenia allows overseas diplomatic and military personnel to vote online. And in Canada, electronic voting has been introduced in over 150 municipalities for local elections.
This has had a positive impact on voter turnout. In France, 48% of voters in the third French overseas constituency voted in the 2024 election, compared to just 17.5% in 2017 when online voting was not offered. [4]
Does online voting reduce accessibility barriers?
The short answer is, yes. In recent years, turnout amongst disabled people has been lower than turnout amongst non-disabled people. This is largely a consequence of challenges in reaching polling stations, but also due to factors such as visual impairments limiting the ability of some to vote whilst maintaining confidentiality.
In Australia, online voting is permitted on a statewide basis for voters with disabilities. This allows disabled voters (particularly those with visual impairments or limited literacy) to vote independently with the aid of computer screen reader tools - ensuring that political participation is far easier and more accessible.
Other accessibility barriers include the fact that many voters are turned away from polling stations, either due to factors such as being registered at the wrong address or failing to bring valid voter ID - excluding thousands of people from participating in elections. [5] Through introducing online voting, the process of providing this information would be made far easier (with voters being far more likely to have ID available when voting from home) - again promoting greater turnout.
And that’s not mentioning how online voting could bypass the troubles involved with postal voting. The total reliance of postal voters on Royal Mail means that ballots are at serious risk of being delivered late - meaning voters are often uncertain as to whether their ballot will arrive in time to be counted. In the 2024 General Election, Uttlesford District Council in north-west Essex sent out 2,644 postal ballots nine days late owing to “human error”. [6] By providing online voting as an option for those who need a postal vote, voters could be confident that their vote had been registered - ensuring greater certainty.
How would remote electronic voting accommodate voters with limited internet access or digital literacy?
A notable challenge to online voting is that many voters, disproportionately those who are older, poorer, and in more remote areas, have limited access to the internet. Indeed, there are thousands of households who cannot achieve a download speed of 2 MB - which would pose a real challenge to the process of casting a secure online vote. Any move to introduce remote electronic voting would therefore undoubtedly require significant investment in broadband infrastructure.
It is also worth noting that poorer voters on benefits or Universal Credit are likely to qualify for a broadband social tariff - yet only 5% of those who are eligible sign up for this benefit. [7] It would therefore be a necessity for any government introducing online voting to increase awareness of this tariff, and provide internet access to the poorest in society - allowing online voting to be accessible to all.
And for those with limited digital literacy (disproportionately older voters), the government would want to provide educational programmes to ensure greater confidence in the process of casting an online vote.
It is again important to note that the introduction of online voting would not automatically mean the removal of polling stations and paper voting; rather, it would provide an alternative to this system - meaning that those who prefer to vote in person could continue to do so. Nonetheless, the introduction of online voting, as an option available to all, would require significant funding to subsidise broadband infrastructure improvements and digital literacy programmes.
The risks of technical failures or cyber-attacks
Another significant challenge is the risk of technical failures and cyber-attacks.
Fears of a last-minute technical failure on a voting system could be addressed by continuing to retain polling stations as an option for voters - ensuring that, in the unlikely event of a technical problem, voters would still be able to participate in elections.
Meanwhile, the risk of cyber-attacks remains a severe issue. 50% of businesses reported cyber-attacks in 2023. When e-voting was piloted in a selection of local elections between 2002 and 2007, it was found to make voting more accessible, yet it was discontinued after the security risk was deemed ‘significant and unacceptable’. [8] More recently, China was found to have launched cyber-attacks on the Ministry of Defence, further increasing fears of cyber-infiltration.
Although measures such as encrypted voter receipts to confirm that votes had been registered properly have been implemented for French overseas voters, vulnerabilities in such systems have been identified. Experts later found that cyber-attackers could theoretically have modified voter receipts to indicate that votes had been accurately cast, whilst potentially changing the vote registered on the server - all whilst remaining undetected. [9]
Evidently, the widespread use of online voting could spark uncertainty about the legitimacy of any result due to the threat of cyber infiltration, and could risk undermining confidence and trust in the political process.
Conclusion
Online voting would undeniably make the process of voting far easier and more accessible - increasing participation in UK elections by removing the constraints of voting at polling stations. However, widespread implementation of remote electronic voting would require significant investment in broadband infrastructure and digital literacy. Furthermore, the uncertainty brought about by the risk of cyber-attacks could result in a loss of faith in the democratic process, and would therefore risk harming democracy.
I would therefore argue that, whilst introducing online voting for the entire electorate could undermine faith in the electoral process, schemes such as that of France and Australia (in which online voting is available to overseas and disabled voters respectively) should be seriously considered. This would boost turnout amongst these groups, and voting online would ensure greater confidence that all votes are counted in time.
If this small proportion of the electorate was given the opportunity to vote online, turnout amongst these groups would be boosted, whilst the ability for election results to be drastically hijacked by cyber-criminals would be negligible due to the relatively low number of online voters.
A final consideration is whether online voting could be extended to the youngest voters. As previously mentioned, turnout is extremely low amongst the young, often due to apathy. By providing the opportunity to vote online to the youngest voters, the government would ensure the voices of the often disillusioned younger voters were heard.
Any government serious about fixing the existing democratic deficit in British elections must seriously consider introducing online voting for the groups who would benefit the most. This is a change that would be very welcome.
[2] https://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/blog/20240625-online-vote-general-election
[3] https://e-estonia.com/how-did-estonia-carry-out-the-worlds-first-mostly-online-national-elections/
[5]
[7]
[8]
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04397/SN04397.pdf
[9]
https://www.inria.fr/en/security-electronic-voting-digital-security-confidentiality