Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into online voting to begin public hearings
DESPITE the online disaster from the national Census, Victoria is pushing ahead with public hearings on electronic voting.
JUST weeks after the trouble-plagued first online Census, Victoria is pressing forward with public hearings to examine the effectiveness of electronic voting as part of a Parliamentary Inquiry into the matter.
Beginning today, the Electoral Matters Committee will hear from electoral commissions, technology specialists and community advocacy groups.
The inquiry will hear from experts and stakeholders during sessions on Monday and Wednesday this week as they examine what has become an increasingly contentious issue.
In the fallout from the bungled online Census, many commentators lamented the damage it had done on the movement towards online voting.
David Glance, director of the University of Western Australia’s Centre for Software Practice, was among them.
“In a single fell swoop the appalling incompetence of ABS statisticians has dealt an absolute blow ... to the future of online voting,” he told news.com.au earlier in the month.
David Crowe, political correspondent for The Australian, went further saying “online voting, always a risky prospect, is certainly dead after this affair”.
Plenty of advocates remain undeterred and would like to see the government explore ways to deliver comprehensive electronic voting in the future. But according to those who have provided submission to the inquiry, there are plenty of pitfalls to consider.
“The potential advantages of electronic voting are obvious, but the risks are not,” Vanessa Teague from the University of Melbourne and Professor Rajeev Gore from ANU wrote in their submission to the inquiry.
“Voters’ democratic rights are not enhanced if their votes can be manipulated, the privacy of their vote can be violated, or if the system fails to provide evidence that withstands a legal challenge.”
The Victorian committee is examining forms of electronic voting already in use and what can be done to ensure integrity and security of such a system, AAP reported.
The Victorian Electoral Commission will give evidence on Wednesday and in a written submission it recommended legislative amendments to allow a limited category of voters to be allowed access to remote electronic voting.
Such electors would be the vision or motor impaired, those with insufficient language or literacy skills and others who are interstate or overseas during an election.
— With AAP
