A review of the underlying concepts of electronic votingAlexander Decker
Similar to Vasilis Vlachokyriakos, Paul Dunphy, Nick Tayler, Rob Comber, Patrick Oivier – Unpicking the design space of e-Voting for Participation (20)
Vasilis Vlachokyriakos, Paul Dunphy, Nick Tayler, Rob Comber, Patrick Oivier – Unpicking the design space of e-Voting for Participation
1. Unpicking the design space of e-Voting for
Participation
V. Vlachokyriakos, P. Dunphy, N. Taylor, R. Comber, P. Olivier
Culture Lab, Newcastle University
2. Technology to facilitate access to the voting apparatus, fail to motivate participation
effectively.
Technology for Participation
Does providing additional channels of participation increase participation in the long
run?
• Still an open research question, however recent studies indicate that it doesn t
• Lost social pressure to vote
• Experience related issues – ritual of voting
• Voting for personal interests instead of voting for the common good
What are the design requirements of voting systems to provoke the constructs of
participation?
4. Who is eligible to vote? Who is eligible to be elected?
Eligibility
Managing electoral roll
With e-voting we have the opportunity to rethink the way the electoral roll is managed and published to provoke
social pressure for participation.
e.g. Increase of participation in national elections in the US by placing banner messages on users facebook
profiles3.
Polling duration
How the polling duration affects participation.
3. Bond, R. M., Fariss, C., Jones, J., Kramer, A., Marlow, C., Settle, J., & Fowler, J. (2012). A 61-million-person
experiment in social influence and political mobilization. NATURE .
5. Fairness
Vote weighting (one person – one vote)
How vote weighting can make power structures visible and question them?
Accessibility
All the eligible participants have access to the voting apparatus. Usability considerations.
Verifiability
Social Verifiability?
6. Secrecy
Coercion
Secret ballot: when a voter sell his vote, no documents are provided to verify that the vote has been cast a
certain way.
How we can configure the secret ballot to provoke participation?
Results embargo
Publication of interim results.
How publication of interim results can affect participation?
Refers to whether casted votes and results are visible
7. The way the user is permitted to express their preference
Expression
Nomination phase
Related to who is eligible to be elected and when he can be nominated for election.
Blank and spoiled ballots may indicate that the voting system does not allow the voters to effectively express
themselves.
Vote transferring
Issues related to the delegation of votes.
Vote revocation
Issues related with revoking casted votes.
Number of votes
Numbers of votes allowed per participant.
Type of voting
Approval voting or disapproval voting.
8. Discussion
Technological evolution and the vibrant discussion around the use of technology for
democracy is an opportunity to rethink how we practice voting.
Provoke the social settings for participation and deliberation instead of simply making it
easier for people to vote.