Voting from the coffeeshop or the couch? A recent survey shows Americans would welcome the opportunity to cast a ballot online.
Recent research by a software and app developer says that 75 percent of those surveyed said online voting should be an option. The biggest support for online voting came among those 18 to 25, with 56 percent saying they would vote online.
Soliant Consulting said it surveyed more than 1,000 people for their opinion and that if online voting were an option, 78 percent said they’d more be more likely to vote in their local elections. More Republicans – 34 percent – than Democrats – 18 percent – said online voting should not be an option.
There were concerns about security with online voting, with 37 percent saying they’d be worried about accuracy. There was also concern about voter fraud and security threats, including hacking.
Almost 90 percent believe it won’t happen. Indeed, Congress and the Defense Department have pointed in the past to warnings over the past decade from cybersecurity experts who say that no internet voting system could effectively block hackers from tampering with election results.
A few Americans are allowed to vote online: absentee voters from Alaska and some military voters. But, Scientific American notes that the voters are told that the ballots “may not be anonymous or secure.”
Pennsylvania officials recently warned voters about a hoax designed to trick people into believing they could vote from their laptop or phone after a Western Pennsylvania Republican official circulated an image claiming that voters could go online to vote for Hillary Clinton.
The posting said “Simply post ‘Hillary’ with the hashtag #PresidentialElection on your Facebook or Twitter account between 7:00am and 9:00pm on November 8th!”
Untrue, said state election officials.
Do not be misled. PA has only two voting options: absentee ballot or in-person at the polling place. More info at: https://t.co/liU75BrQpf pic.twitter.com/nuQASn9tsU
— PA State Dept. (@PAStateDept) October 18, 2016
The BBC says reverse image searches indicate the hoax surfaced in July in a thread on Reddit, r/The_Donald – “a bastion of those hard-core Trump supporters known as the alt-right.”
Lesley Clark: 202-383-6054, @lesleyclark
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