Push to trial BYO i-vote at federal poll

Push to trial BYO i-vote at federal poll
Stefanie Balogh
THE AUSTRALIAN
JULY 30, 2014 12:00AM
AUSTRALIANS do their shopping and banking online — now there is a push to trial e-voting at the next federal election, and voters could be asked to bring their own devices.

The Communications Department has told the federal parliamentary committee examining electoral matters that it backs a limited trial of electronic voting.

The department suggests using the myGov portal — a secure website used by about three million Centrelink, child support and Medicare customers — for any trial.

Abul Rizvi, the department’s deputy secretary for the digital economy, yesterday told the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters it was inevitable Australia would embrace online voting.

He said the Electoral Council of Australia and New Zealand had pointed out that “electronic voting is something that will inevitably come at some point, it is a question of where we are at in terms of our evolution in that direction’’.


He said computer equipment was now cheaper and electronic voting at polling stations could be done through a “bring-your-own-device’’ model.

“You are still voting physically at a physical polling place but are voting using an electronic device that is connected to a local system using your own device that you’ve brought in,’’ Mr Rizvi said.

“Yes there are security issues … but those can be addressed, and that I would suggest reduces your costs quite considerably.’’

MPs have raised concerns about security, identity checks, coercion, and privacy of electronic voting, even citing the situation in Estonia where voters can recast online ballots if they reconsider.

“Some of the possibilities represent a very substantial change to culture and practice beyond the adoption of a technology,’’ warned committee member Gary Gray, an ex-Labor national secretary and former special minister of state in charge of electoral matters.

The department has called for a limited electronic voting trial at the next federal election, arguing there has been an increase in postal votes and that moving online could reduce informal ballots.

More than 46,000 voters at the last NSW state election used iVote, an electronic voting option for people who are illiterate, disabled or living in remote areas. Next year about 250,000 people are expected to use the scheme. The ACT uses localised electronic voting for territory elections.

Mr Rizvi said myGov could be “an ideal vehicle to trial e-voting at the federal level’’ but the department recognised there were risks.

Committee chairman Tony Smith said experts had told the committee internet voting was highly risky and online systems could be hacked. “I accept that there will always be systems that can — if the person is sophisticated enough, well-resourced enough, sufficiently motivated enough — that they will be able to break into it,’’ Mr Rizvi said. There were concerns also about anonymity and coercion, he noted.

Palmer United Party’s Clive Palmer is expected to address the committee today, and previously has supported electronic voting.