Electronic, internet-based voting

E-voting, and in particular Internet-based remote voting, has been a controversial topic since its early beginnings more than a decade ago. For instance, many proponents of Internet voting argue that the introduction of an online voting channel would help to reverse the decline in turnout rates. Despite all the hypothetical benefits, however, an essential condition of voting is that the process rules out any possibility of fraud. Yet, as this chapter shows, it is questionable whether this prerequisite can actually be fulfilled by Internet voting due to security concerns. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, an investigation of e-voting requires a comprehensive approach that considers technical, legal, social and political aspects. Chapter 4 of this book tackles this challenge and is structured in two main sections: First, e-voting is approached from a theoretical perspective and the legal, technical, political and social issues that should be considered are presented. Second, an analytical framework comprising the five dimensions of history and background, motivation, legal context, organizational context and socio-political context is applied to in-depth case studies of Estonia, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. These case studies provide empirical evidence and the subsequent discussion allows a comparative and contextualised investigation of Internet voting and conclusions to be drawn with reference to the European perspective.