Sunday November 5 9:56 AM ET
Online Voting Debate Rages in Run-up to
Election
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The elections on Tuesday will not only pick a
president but could herald the start of a new American revolution as online-voting
tests in California and Arizona provide a glimpse of Democracy in cyberspace.
But is the Internet the 21st century's home of the free and land of the brave?
Proponents claim that voting with just a click of a mouse will spark a dramatic
reversal in dwindling American voter participation, while opponents say it opens a
Pandora's box of problems ranging from threatened national security to
introducing a new class division to the electoral process.
``The Internet is changing politics and online voting is going to take several
shapes,'' said Jim Adler, chief executive of Bellevue, Wash.-based Votehere.net, which is running the online trials for
the Nov. 7 presidential election.
In the pilot, people were able to cast online votes at early poll sites in San Diego, Calif. from Oct. 23 to Oct. 27 and
in Sacramento, Calif. from Oct. 30 through election day.
In Arizona, the online trial will take place on election day at one Phoenix-area polling place. None of these online
votes will count toward the final presidential tally.
By this time next year, however, Adler predicts his company's equipment will be certified in nearly 40 states and
that many states will be tallying online votes for real.
``We're advocating evolution, not revolution,'' said Adler, who believes online voting will begin at polls before it moves
to ``remote'' voting via the Internet from almost anywhere.
``Our timeframe is by 2001, there will be pollside online voting and within two to three years, remote voting will be
fairly widespread,'' said a spokeswoman for Votehere.net (http://www.votehere.net)), which has partnered with
computer giant Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) to offer online-voting technology on a desktop
computer.
But many believe a slower approach is needed.
``People want to vote (online) anytime from anywhere, but security experts have come up with some pretty
frightening scenarios that could arise in an election,'' said David Cheney, of the Internet Policy Institute (IPI), a
non-profit group that conducted a recent workshop -- requested by the White House -- to examine the feasibility of
Internet voting.
Voting Can Be Easier But Less Secure
While it can make voting easier and cheaper, issues such as security and reliability need to be addressed before
any such systems are adopted by the states, Cheney said.
``For instance, could someone put up a virus like the 'Love Bug' on your computer that would sit quietly until
Election Day and then redirect votes or take control of computers? These things are hard to defend and hard to
detect,'' he said.
Opponents also are concerned about voter fraud and discrimination as online voting furthers the ``digital divide''
between those with access to computers and those who do not.
In March, Arizona Democrats used the Internet for the first time to cast ballots in a legally binding election in that
state's presidential primary race. Nearly 40,000 Arizona Democrats cast online ballots in the polling conducted by
Garden City, N.J.-based Election.com.
A voter group tried to stop the election with a lawsuit on behalf of a Hispanic woman and an African-American man,
charging the plan discriminated against poor and minorities.
While officials called the election a success, voting experts tempered their enthusiasm, saying it was only a closed,
primary race and that privacy, security and social concerns still remain, particularly for national elections.
In addition to these concerns, Deborah Phillips, president of the Voting Integrity Project, a prominent
Arlington-Va.-based voter group also believes that Web-based companies and other voter-related Web services need
scrutiny.
She and other voting experts said the Internet was already being used to distort the electoral process.
``Someone set up a Web auction ... to prove that if candidates can sell their votes to companies, why shouldn't
individuals receive money for their votes,'' the Internet Policy Institute's Cheney said. ``The challenge in selling votes
is to prove you voted. With online voting, you can record your vote and get paid for it,'' he said.
People are also setting up Napster (news - web sites)-like sites to enable voters to swap votes.
California officials said on Tuesday they had shut down a vote swap Web site aimed at so-called ``Nader traders'' --
people in battleground states who agree to vote for presidential candidate Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) if
someone in a less contested state votes for the Green Party's Ralph Nader (news - web sites).
The site (http://www.voteswap2000.com) was one of a number of Internet trading sites that sprang up after political
pundits suggested vote swapping as a way of backing Nader without costing Gore the election.
``It's a new wrinkle on this consideration for online voting,'' Phillips said.
Finally, some people are wondering if America's really ready for this much access to the political process.
``Online voting can put the process back in the hands of constituencies. There's a lot of good about that and a lot
potential bad, too,'' said an Internet Policy Institute spokeswoman.
``If everyone can vote all the time, will anything ever get done? It's something that can change the political process
in American and there are huge social ramifications,'' she said.
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