What is E-Voting?

Definition

Electronic voting or e-voting is using electronic means to record or count votes.

Types

There are two broad types of e-voting:

  • polling place e-voting: using touch screens, counting machines, and such under polling place supervision
  • remote e-voting: voting away from the polling place, on a personal device (via the Internet) without supervision

Right Now

Today, polling place e-voting is relatively common. There are many polling places that use vote counting machines to read ballots, and many kiosk style computers to vote at instead of ballot booths. Internet based e-voting is less common, but it has been attempted in the last decade around the world.

Internet based E-Voting is the holy grail of e-voting; it is the long sought goal that we have yet to reach.