We’ve previously looked at what is electronic voting. Now we want to look at the ethics of allowing voting using an electronic method. We’ll discuss the ethics of preventing it’s use in another article.
There are several reasons to allow, or move to, various forms of electronic voting, including fully digital voting over the Internet. These include things such as:
- Electronic voting is more convenient than traditional voting methods. No hassle with getting in a car. This is especially helpful for people who are home bound, for what ever reason.
- It can be more private than traditional voting methods because it can be done from home.
- It costs less to implement and maintain than traditional voting methods. Traditionally voting machines must be programmed, setup, secured, and stored when not in use. Moving to a series of digital pads, or an Internet website would simplify the process a lot.
- It is faster for both voting and counting votes. Electronic votes could be tabulated and transmitted nearly instantaneously. Arizona is known for taking a long time to tabulate their election results, and the Florida election results of 2000 kept the world from knowing who the president of the US was for over a month. https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-arizona-ballot-counting-d9425f8f9b0b0ea203c6453cac860016
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/12/666812854/the-florida-recount-of-2000-a-nightmare-that-goes-on-haunting
While this seems like an embarrassment more than an serious issue, there are issues that are raised, such as selecting a cabinet and other positions, which need to occur quickly to allow for a smooth transition of power within the country. - It has the ability to motivate more voting activity if we make it simpler, and more accessible. In general, the idea of getting more people to vote is considered a good thing in the United States.
Are there any other reasons that would support allowing electronic voting? Would you say any of these is not an ethical reason? Or more ethical than another reason?
An Ethical Argument for Allowing Digital Voting was originally found on Access 2 Learn
One Comment
Comments are closed.