Online Voting

A Solution for Youth When it comes to elections, statistics show that almost 50% of voters in a country are enthusiastic about voting for the winner of a reality show, while only about 40% decide to vote in elections. This lack of participation and interesting phenomenon is certainly not due to a lack of interest. According to one survey among the younger population, results have shown that 70% of young people are very interested in issues such as taxes, the environment, and healthcare.

A Solution for Youth When it comes to elections, statistics show that almost 50% of voters in a country are enthusiastic about voting for the winner of a reality show, while only about 40% decide to vote in elections. This lack of participation and interesting phenomenon is certainly not due to a lack of interest. According to one survey among the younger population, results have shown that 70% of young people are very interested in issues such as taxes, the environment, and healthcare.

So why can't we convince young voters to participate in elections at a higher rate? Could online voting be the answer?

A vision of modern online voting would include an internet-based registry, the ability to vote online, and online result tabulation.

A few years ago, the United Kingdom held the largest online voting in the city of Sheffield. 174,000 citizens had the opportunity to vote online, via kiosks, or mobile phones. Technically, the testing was successful, and the systems functioned well. The biggest issue they encountered was that someone forgot to connect a cable on one of the kiosks. Sheffield voters were delighted, and 40% of voters chose to use online voting as their channel. Voters constantly wondered why they stopped it.

Online voting can help people who cannot go to polling stations to vote, which is a commendable goal.

For example, many people currently use the traditional way of voting, which involves going to polling places. Sometimes, polling places are located in buildings and spaces that do not cater to people with disabilities. Modernizing these buildings and providing access to citizens with disabilities would be too expensive if it's only for elections. With online voting, there would practically be no need for polling stations. New polling stations would exist online. Thinking about this, you can conclude what kind of savings it would be for the state. Besides the physical space, imagine the savings on printing ballots. Primarily, the ballot becomes online, eliminating the need for printing, which not only saves resources but also benefits the environment.

Online voting brings advantages in every aspect. Most people would argue that the drawback of such a system is security. We do not agree with that claim. Nothing is as transparent and straightforward as information technology. There is a clear digital trace for every action, and authentication is done in a unique way that doesn't depend on the observer's allegiance.

Regarding the young population for whom mobile phones are "everything" and who have grown up in the digital age, online voting could be the answer and a stimulus for young people to participate in various elections. In the Republic of Croatia, such a system already exists.

The FairVotes online voting system allows voting from mobile devices, computers, or tablets. All that is needed is internet access. Now, every decision can be made regardless of where the voters are, especially if the target audience is young voters, who are typically difficult to gather in one place.

The FairVotes online voting system can be adapted for everyone. It can be used by universities, political parties, associations, federations, and many others. The system is very simple and provides a modern version of voting for the future.