Online Voting and the Digital Divide

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Abstract: More and more Americans are tapping into the Internet in their search for convenience and expedience. One service that offers both of these values, and more, is online voting. However, it is not as simple as point and click. Studies show an inequality in the ability to access the Internet across socioeconomic class and race. This Digital Divide is a major concern in the development of an online voting system, and authors of this new technology must take care not to let these existing inequalities compromise democracy. This paper takes an in-depth look at these challenging issues, and concludes with some suggestions to solve them.

Today, it is possible to manage bank accounts, purchase goods, and attend classes - all simultaneously and from the comfort of your own living room! The technology that supports these Internet services is being applied to improve services in practically every sector of society. The government sector, in particular, now has online voting. This recent advancement has the capacity of delivering democracy into the homes of every American. But while allowing citizens to submit online ballots from their homes has many benefits, we must also address its implications, especially in the area of equality.

The ability to vote online has great potential. Salient benefits include expediency and accuracy - qualities that may have prevented the nightmarish experience of Election 2000. In that election, thousands of votes in Florida, and elsewhere, were tallied incorrectly, or not at all. Obsessive news reports about the "hanging chad" and disenfranchised voters cast doubts on who really won the Presidency. The faults of the ballot system, which have always existed, were mad...

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