THE CASE FOR INTERNET VOTING
very prescriptive, allowing electoral management bodies limited scope or discretion in their election operations. The introduction of an internet voting option is not something, therefore, that Australian electoral bodies could introduce of their own accord - governments and parliaments would need to be persuaded to go down this path. It is also fair to say that electoral laws as they currently exist are firmly rooted in the past. Most Australian electors are still required to attend a polling place to vote by putting pencil to paper. New South Wales is the only jurisdiction that allows internet voting, and then only in limited
circumstances.3
While some would argue that traditional paper based systems offer the highest level of ballot security and scrutiny, it is becoming increasingly difficult to convince younger generations, reared on a diet of cutting edge technology that they should have to vote in this way. There is a very strong likelihood that an Australian citizen turning 18 today (the age at which citizens become eligible to vote) was brought up online. Call it the digital age, the electronic age or the age of convenience, it is an age that is here to stay. 93% of Australian households with at least one occupant under the age of 15
already have internet access4 and there are over 3 billion internet users world-wide.5 A strong argument can be made that if our electoral laws are not modernised, especially by providing a wider and more accessible range of voting options, younger electors will stop voting with stubby pencils and will vote with their feet instead!
Recent research makes it almost indisputable that if internet voting were made available as an option to Australian electors, many would choose it. For example a Queensland parliamentary inquiry conducted in 2005 (when community internet usage
Above: Due to its vast size across the Outback, Australian voters could benefit from internet voting in some areas.
was lower than it is today), surveyed a group of young people about their preferred method of voting. The typical response was that they favoured internet voting, some going even further by suggesting that they should be allowed to text their vote (Voices and Votes, 2005). Voter surveys conducted by the Western Australian Electoral Commission at that state’s last three state general elections have also shown a steady increase in support for internet voting. In 2005, 44%
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