Voting is a right: a decade of societal, technological and experiential progress towards the goal of remote-access voting

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to revisit and extends the work of Rosacker and Rosacker (2012) that called for increased interdisciplinary efforts to address and solve the critical issues (critical success factors) facing technologically-enabled remote-access voting platforms. It builds upon the background platform presented there, which included an historical timeline of information and communication technologies and an e-voting literature review, and extends that work by providing a state-of-the-art update and review of the rapidly changing voter environment from societal, technological and experiential studies over the past decade. Specific focus is directed at technology-enabled, remote-access voting, while also considering the important role technological advances can play in improving voter registration/confirmation procedures.

Design/methodology/approach

First, a brief review of significant societal and technological changes, including the rapid evolution of the internet of things, is undertaken to frame the discussion. Second, a sample of several technology-enabled, remote-access voting experiments are reviewed and critiqued. Third, currently available technical solutions targeting technology-enabled voter registration and vote casting are offered as the next step in the process that will ultimately lead to remote-access voting becoming widely deployed across smart devices. Finally, some contemporaneous conclusions are tendered.

Findings

Society and technology-enabled devices have each witnessed myriad changes and advancements in the second decade of the 21st century. These have led to numerous remote-access voting experiments across the globe that have overwhelmingly proven the concept of technology-enabled, remote-access voting to be viable while also identifying/reasserting issues (critical success factors) that continue to restrain its full implementation. Importantly, none of the problems identified is fatal to the concept.

Originality/value

This study considers the issue of technologically-enabled, remote-access voting focussing on the impacts associated with the portfolio of recent societal and technological advancements including the many vexing concerns and issues presented by the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing is limiting access to the traditional methods of in-person voting for both election officials and voters bringing into question the November 2020 US national election. Calls for expanded mail voting options and the requisite federal funding required to support these efforts are increasing, widespread and broadly persuasive. Wholly missing in this debate is an exhaustive consideration and discussion of technologically enhanced, remote-access voting systems and their role in filling the void.

Citation

Rosacker, K.M. and Rosacker, R.E. (2020), "Voting is a right: a decade of societal, technological and experiential progress towards the goal of remote-access voting", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Vol. 14 No. 5, pp. 701-712. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-03-2020-0053