When it comes to low turnouts for elections, the ability to vote online is consistently mentioned as one of the best ways to improve response rates—theoretically, it’s so easy that anyone can do it quickly and without hassle. Online voting can also mean better verification for both voters and auditors. But how are you able to authenticate that those voting from their phones, desktops, and tablets are all authorized and the data isn’t coming from other jurisdictions or bots?
The very concept of voting has an inherent, ongoing security problem because officials must guarantee a result while ensuring that a person’s selections and choices remain private. In the United States, elections are currently conducted using systems that are somewhat ageing and prone to security vulnerabilities.
Even when the results are not actually compromised, the optics of the process are still at risk. In other words, there may be an impact on public confidence in the electoral process because of fears it can be—or has been—undermined or weakened.
It is hard to grasp the full implications of having online elections compromised, with people being selected by remote, automated vote manipulation. Without an audit trail or evidence for election officials or law enforcement to detect problems, the issue would simply continue unaddressed.
Data discrepancies within elections can be more difficult to detect than in other sectors because voters do not directly learn whether their votes were correctly processed. Further, in comparison with the finance or banking worlds, the “elections sector” does not follow the standard best security practices with regard to cybersecurity. Since voting must produce results without being overly delayed or rerun each time there is suspicion, the traditional online security techniques used to protect banking and e-commerce sites do not work.
In addition to issues with authenticating remote users and defending computers from overseas attackers, ensuring confidence in online voting requires protecting home computers from malware and also safeguarding online communication. This last point is particularly critical—if anonymity is compromised, voters may not express their true feelings.
These reasons are why we have partnered with Aristotle, a leading pioneer in political technology that works with many of the largest grassroots organizations, PACs, and political campaigns in the United States and abroad.
Using our brand-new online voting profile tool, every record is matched to Aristotle’s registered database, meaning respondents that enter a study are validated against a number of data points. This supplies a new level of accuracy for political polling online that was not previously available.
One of the main reasons we created Votified was because of the considerations listed in this article. Security, privacy, and transparency requirements for online voting are much more complex and stringent than they are for e-commerce transactions.
To create a level playing field and encourage voters to have an opinion (and ensure them that this opinion can remain private), we need to create a system that authenticates voters against registered online databases. By enabling people to feel safe and secure, online voting—and its predicted positive impact on election turnout—will be an easy choice for the future.
About the Logit Group
The Logit Group is a leader among data collection firms, and our ongoing commitment has been to develop and administer industry-best technologies as the basis of our research execution. We offer online and offline services including; Global Panel Sourcing, B2C Phone Research, Mall Intercepts, In-depth interview (IDI) recruitment, Focus group recruitment, customized reporting, and more.
For a full list of our services, please visit our website here and to submit a bid request, please see our Bid Request form.
About Sam
As founder of The Logit Group, Sam Pisani’s vision has always been to reinvent and reinvigorate data collection within the research industry. From building a dynamic team of research execution professionals, to staying on the forefront of technological, methodological and regulatory trends, Sam embodies the passion that the Logit team brings to research execution.
