Malcolm Turnbull — who according to our new Prime Minister 'virtually invented the internet in this country' — has called for the introduction of electronic voting in Australia.
But before you get excited, Turnbull's objective here is not to spare you the 20 minutes standing in line every three to four years when you are forced against your will to think about who runs your country. No, if anything he wants more voting! Turnbull's justification is that roughly six per cent of voters failed to correctly fill in their ballot papers on Saturday, and thus lost their voice in the election. Electronic voting would stop this senseless waste.
Ignoring the fact that electronic voting would disenfranchise the roughly 5.9 per cent of voters whose democratic wish is to draw male appendages on their ballot, Turnbull has a point. Electronic voting would fix a number of problems with our electoral system and, conveniently, spare party volunteers like myself the 24 hour process of covering schools in bunting, handing out how-to-votes, and scrutineering votes for 7s that look like 1s.
There is also the small matter of re-enfranchising voters with disabilities and those with low English literacy, and assisting remote and low-mobility voters.
But the best argument for electronic voting is that the advantage of the 'donkey vote' — estimated in some electorates to be worth between one to two per cent — would be eliminated by randomly generating the order in which candidates appear on your on-screen ballot. Currently, the order in which candidates' names are printed is determined by a blindfolded AEC official drawing names from a bingo wheel. The outcome can win or lose the seat for a candidate; that is, in close seats our members of parliament are more or less drawn from a hat.
So why hasn't e-voting happened yet? For a start, the term 'electronic voting' covers everything from those notorious Florida-style punch-cards, to remote voting over the internet. Turnbull would still demand you roll up to a voting booth, but use a touch screen rather than pencil and paper to make your selection. There are a number of competing models available for the electoral commission to consider.
The last full report into the potential of electronic voting was completed in 2001. Then, the AEC cited potential issues such as security, correct voter identification, cost of implementation, the threat of voter coercion outside supervised polling places, and the loss of the cultural institution