U.S. ELECTIONS 2008

In India, a polling officer checks the electronic voting machines before the election in May 2007. (c) AP Images

New Voting Technology: Problem or Solution?

Paul S. DeGregorio

Like many other democracies, the United States is addressing the need to improve its election process to ensure that all citizens can vote freely, easily, and securely. An election expert describes the actions the U.S. government has taken to facilitate the casting of ballots across the country, and he discusses the promise and pitfalls of electronic voting systems, as technology moves into the mainstream of election administration. Paul S. DeGregorio is the former chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and he has worked for 22 years as an election expert in more than 20 countries.

During the past decade the world has experienced a significant focus on the process of voting. Many countries, rich and poor, developed and not-so-developed, are using new technologies to select their leaders. Voters in India, the world's largest democracy, cast their ballots using electronic push-button technology, while voters in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, present a modern identification card with photo and thumbprint when obtaining their ballot. Indeed, in Estonia (E-stonia, as they like to be known) voters can now use a smart card to cast their ballot over the Internet from anywhere in the world.

In the United States more than 90 percent of votes are cast or counted electronically. Every polling place is now required by law to have a voting device that allows people with disabilities to vote privately and independently. Thus, a voter who is blind can put on earphones and touch a screen or buttons to advance and vote the ballot — in private. The United States is the only country in the world with this type of mandate.

Voters with other special needs, such as those who do not speak English as a first language, are also helped by this new technology. In Los Angeles County, California, ballots are provided in eight languages. It is clear that new technologies can be a major enabler for those voters who are challenged by physical handicaps or language barriers.

The majority of these new election technologies, and more, have been introduced within the past 10 years. And each year more countries introduce new methods to make voting accessible to all segments of society.

Do these new technologies help to achieve greater voter access and to curb poor turnouts? Are they trusted by all segments of the population? Or do they introduce new problems and provide an unfair advantage for certain voters? These are important issues now being debated within individual countries and in the international community.

Improving the U.S. Election Process

In the United States the election process received dramatic attention at home and abroad after the 2000 presidential election when, during a six-week period, no one was sure who won the presidency. The terms "hanging," "pregnant," and "dimpled" chad became part of the worldwide lexicon. The administration of elections in the United States has come a long way since that watershed event. In 2002 the U.S. Congress passed the historic Help America Vote Act, known as HAVA, which, for the first time, provided significant federal assistance to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories to improve the election process. In fact, there have been more election laws and regulations promulgated in the United States during the past seven years than in the previous 200 years of American history. (more)