Electoral boss wants internet voting debate
Australian Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn is set to release a discussion paper outlining the pros and cons of introducing a system of internet voting for federal elections.
Killesteyn said his discussion paper would be released publicly in the coming months, and he would ask for it to be considered by the federal parliamentary committee that oversees the AEC early next year.
During a briefing for journalists in Adelaide today, Killesteyn said the paper would not offer a view about whether Australia should introduce internet voting, but it was time for the issue to be debated.
“It’s designed to start to flesh out the arguments for and against internet voting in Australia,” he said.
“The debate is starting. It’s really something the Parliament and the community needs to come to grips with.”
He said politicians generally didn’t support internet voting, because it removed the opportunity for distributing how-to-vote cards outside polling booths.
If Australia was to adopt an internet voting system, it would be restricted, he said, noting that Estonia had introduced internet voting only to move away from it.
He said internet voting was not necessarily cheaper than the current pencil and paper system, and it would also remove the sense of “the community coming together” in a public way.
Killesteyn said one of the potential problems with internet voting was its effect on the secret ballot – one of the fundamental principles of the Australian electoral system.
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The problem is designing a system that allows the AEC to identify a valid vote over the internet without identifying the voter.
Part of the answer could lie in an historic first that will be tried at this year’s federal election.
For the first time, blind and sight impaired people will be allowed to vote over the telephone. These voters, who will need to register with the AEC, will use a system of PINs – one known by the voter, the other by the commission – to maintain the secrecy of their vote.
In other technological changes this year, polling places will be using Notebook computers to speed up the identification of voters who present to vote, rather than using a paper list.
