Electronic Voting System in Australia: Advantages and Disadvantages

This essay discusses the advantages and disadvantages of implementing electronic voting system in Australia. It also analyzes the current paper ballot voting system and the cyber security threats associated with electronic voting.

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political Science
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1POLITICAL SCIENCE
Introduction
The following essay will focus on the issue regarding the use of the electronic voting
process in Australia. In the current times the voting system i.e. prevalent in Australia is that of
using the ballot paper. In this scenario, the one aspect that is in question is the factor of cyber
security. Recent studies have found out the fact that most young voters have expressed their
reluctance in giving their votes. The main issue that is being faced in the use of electronic voting
machine is that of the cyber risks. Many cyber security threats have been identified in this
scenario.
This is why experts have opined that Australian election commission should stay away
from using the electronic voting system. The issues that the voters face and the causes of their
reluctance to use the electronic voting system will have to be found out in this system. The
advantages and disadvantages of using this electronic voting system will be discussed in this
essay. Some experts have always questioned in favor of using this ballot system for the voting
for its overall security. The thoughts and fears that are thee among the voters will be analyzed
properly.
Voting system in Australian federal structure
In the electoral system of Australia, the current system that prevails is that of the ballot
paper voting. It has been rendered as the safest and most secure options of voting (Aph.gov.au
2019). It is because voters would be sure that their votes have gone in the favor of their preferred
candidates since they only will put the papers in ballot box after voting. This electoral system is
being called the analogue voting system. The votes are given through the paper ballots and these
votes are counted by the staffs of election commission of Australia. Sometimes the compulsory

2POLITICAL SCIENCE
voting system is being implemented in this scenario and this accounts for the better results in the
electoral system (Smith 2016). On the other hand, the turnout of voters should be increased in the
country. On problem in this paper ballot electoral system o it takes much time. A very common
form of problem arises in the voter suppression. In the paper ballot electoral system, many
mechanisms have been implemented. These are to ensure people can give their votes safely
without any technological failure and letting people vote safely with enough security system
(Buckland and Wen 2012). Therefore, the election commission of Australia has been thinking
about implementing this electronic voting system in the country (Aph.gov.au 2019).
One thing that will have to be remembered is that Federal Election is probably the most
confidential process that is arranged. It has to be arranged to elect the Federal representatives for
the two houses of the Commonwealth Parliament (Parliament.vic.gov.au, 2019). These two
rooms are the Senate and the House of Representatives. Very often this paper ballot voting
system has faced some major issues of manipulation by the political influence. Political leaders
tend to use their powers in a manner that will force the voters to cast their votes in their favor. It
might be blackmailing them or alluring them to give money (Hill and Alport 2007). The political
leaders have often used their supreme powers to influence the voters. However, this policy is
regarded as safe as the cyber security threats are not there. This is probably one of the biggest
advantages for the voters. This electoral system had been used very first in the province of
Victoria in Australia in the year 1858 (Parliament.vic.gov.au, 2019) There are some threats and
problems in conducting the electoral program through the paper ballot system. The involvement
of different parties in the election process has given away to this privacy issue
(Parliament.vic.gov.au, 2019). The stuffing of ballot boxes and the ballot paper counting by

3POLITICAL SCIENCE
dishonest means had been reported earlier to the election commission of Australia (Aph.gov.au
2019). This is why they are thinking about implementing this electronic voting system.
Electronic voting system in different countries
There are some countries in which the electronic voting system has been implemented
with success. These countries are United States, South Korea, India, Brazil, Estonia, Venezuela
an many others. The election process in every country is a very unique process (Aec.gov.au
2019). This largely depends on the overall political scenario of that particular nation. The
political conditions of Australia do not seem to be accountable for using the electronic voting
system. The instability in Australian politics and aggression of the opponents will make it
difficult to implement this system (Lee et al. 2016). Rather the political experts of this country
have questioned in favor of using the traditional ballot paper voting (Parliament.vic.gov.au,
2019). The electronic voting system will directly impact on the two large sections of the country.
It will save lots of time for employees who are engaged in the voting process along with
counting (Kiayias, Zacharias and Zhang 2015). The first is the voters and the second one is the
Government. The election of the house representatives will not consume much time like it takes
in paper ballot system. Therefore, the Federal government will be elected in a faster manner.
Advantages for using electronic voting machines
There are some points that the Australian voters should count for. They will get a better
experience in the polling booths and they will be ensured that their votes will be counted
properly. The ethical concerns are very high regarding the use of electronic voting machine
within the federal structure of Australia (Aec.gov.au 2019). The manipulation through the
violation cyber security is the biggest threat for using this system. Opponent section will look to

4POLITICAL SCIENCE
tamper electronic voting machines through hacking. Then it will be rendered as a disadvantage
(Hao et al. 2014). The efficiency in using this new voting system will be increased. The use of
these electronic voting machines will increase the confidence among voters as well. The voters
will be quite sure that there would be no common faults (Buckland and Wen 2012). It is because
they will be able to verify if their vote has gone in favor of their chosen candidate or not.
The effectiveness of voting will be increased thoroughly as well. The cause for its
increase will be national leaders can be elected by their active participation and not by any
manipulated process (Küsters et al. 2016). Another mode of electronic voting is through the
emails. This is for people who are far away from their election centers or booths. Many
Australians are far away from their booths because of their professional commitments as they are
working in different countries. In the paper ballot voting system, these people will have to be
present physically and most times it is nt possible for them (Osgood 2016). So, it will be highly
beneficial for those people if this electronic voting system is implemented.
The chances of reducing the fraudulent activities will be increased by the use of these
electronic voting machines. So, it is quite important to note that influence of political parties will
not be effective. The political parties and their associates will try to create an influence on the
voters but they will not be able to tamper these machines. It is because these machines will be
under very tight security (Buckland and Wen 2012). Many critics have argued in favor of
rejecting this paper ballot electoral system because the chances of manipulating are very high.
There is another scope for technological innovation in the use of Voter Verifiable Paper
Audit Trail (VVPAT). Through this method a machine will be placed beside the electronic
voting machine. After the voter cast their votes, they will be able to see whether their votes have

5POLITICAL SCIENCE
been placed properly (Hill and Alport 2007). This will keep their faith and trust in the Federal
structure of the country. Many voters have complained that they have not been able to cast their
votes in favor of their desired candidate because other opponent parties had manipulated the
entire system. The simple techniques will have to be used in the verifiable elections in this
scenario to find out how effective this can be for the voters. The next usefulness of using
electronic voting machine will be to protect the environment. In case of using paper ballots a
huge amount of paper stocks are needed. This availability of paper can be found through cutting
tress. So, this will put a negative implication on the environment. If this electronic voting system
is implemented, it will save lots of trees (Zissis 2014).
Disadvantages of using electronic voting in Australia
The very first problem that has been faced by Australia to implement the electronic
voting system is that of the financial issues. The arrangement of general elections in a country is
a matter of allocating huge budget. In this age of global economic inflation, it will be a risk
factor for Australia to implement this process. They will have to invest lots of money behind this
matter (Hill and Alport 2007). Apart from that they will have to train their employees in using
this system. The next issue that can be identified is that of the cyber risks. Therefore, it is quite
clear that their problems in the both sides. The problems regarding electronic voting are lack of
accuracy, getting hacked for lack of strong passwords and problems in sealing EVMs before the
beginning of votes (Smith 2016). Therefore, the stress on the employees will be less as it is a
work with huge responsibility because correct counting would determine the fate of the nation
(Smith 2016).

6POLITICAL SCIENCE
Definitely, the electronic voting system should begin in Australia (Lee, et al. 2016). The
cyber voting system is not an exception of this as well. The environments in which these
machines are operated are very volatile. So, it opens up the chances of tampering the machines
for their own benefits. The role of these machines in the democratic processes is immense
indeed. These machines will secure the data of given votes by voters for future use as well
(Küsters et al. 2016). Sometimes it has been found that the password protections of these
machines are not very secure. Apart from that, the seriousness in crypto flaw is also regarded as
an important issue in this matter. The authorities do not intend to use this system since federal
employees are not that much trained. The lack of excellent cryptography experts has been a
reason as to why electronic voting system has not been implemented yet.
Transparency in this election system is not there (Elections.wa.gov.au 2019). Proper
scrutiny is not done in many countries. This is why it has been a great challenge for everyone to
implement this system in Australia. The chances of hacking these machines by cyber criminals
are also a threat to implement this system (Lee et al. 2016).
Recommendations for implementing electronic voting in Australia
It can be predominantly said that Australian election commission should instantly
implement electronic voting system under their jurisdiction. There are some challenges in this
scenario but those challenges will have to be countered properly. The government and their
security branch should take this issue very seriously and cooperate with the Australian election
commission (Lee et al. 2016). If there are any anti-social activities during the elections, the
security personnel should take immediate action against the culprits (Kiayias, Zacharias and
Zhang 2015). If this system is not implemented, it will be very hard to increase the turnout

7POLITICAL SCIENCE
percentage of voters on the day of elections. There is no surety that they will stop this practice
(Burton, Culnane and Schneider 2016).
On the other hand, it will reduce the time of the entire process. Some feedbacks should be
taken up by the election commission of Australia to find out if they like the idea of this system.
Positive feedbacks should be treated seriously (Culnane and Schneider 2014). Australia is
regarded as one of the pioneering countries in technological innovation and they have many
technological experts who can give permanent solutions to this issue. There are three things that
are considered as very much important for implementing this system.
Positive steps should be taken to find the solutions for these issues like use of influence
and power by political parties and threatening voters to vote in their favor (Hill and Alport
2007). The use of technology is a very important factor in this scenario. The political leaders
should also play a role in providing the confidence to voters that this system us reliable. If
software errors like false use of cryptography are seen in this system, technological experts must
mitigate this issue very effectively. Trainings should be given to employees on how to use these
machines.
Conclusion
In the concluding section, it should be said that the electronic voting system has been
applied in many big countries of the world. This system has also yielded faster and better results.
It is high time that Australia should start using this system very soon by getting rid of their paper
ballot electoral system. The population growth in their country is also another reason for that.
The total duration of conducting the election process and fetching its results should be done

8POLITICAL SCIENCE
faster as it will have impacts on the policies of their county. Technological issues should be
treated with severity to assure a corruption and manipulation free election procedure.

9POLITICAL SCIENCE
References and Bibliography
Aec.gov.au (2019). Australian Electoral Commission. [online] Australian Electoral Commission.
Available at: https://www.aec.gov.au/ [Accessed 18 May 2019].
Aph.gov.au (2019). Electronic voting at federal elections – Parliament of Australia. [online]
Aph.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/
pubs/BriefingBook45p/ElectronicVoting [Accessed 18 May 2019].
Aph.gov.au (2019). Second Interim Report – Parliament of Australia. [online] Aph.gov.au.
Available at:
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Electoral_Matters/
2013_General_Election/Second_Interim_Report [Accessed 18 May 2019].
Buckland, R. and Wen, R., 2012. The Future of E-voting in Australia. IEEE Security &
Privacy, 10(5), pp.25-32.
Burton, C., Culnane, C. and Schneider, S., 2016. vVote: Verifiable electronic voting in
practice. IEEE Security & Privacy, 14(4), pp.64-73.
Culnane, C. and Schneider, S., 2014, July. A peered bulletin board for robust use in verifiable
voting systems. In 2014 IEEE 27th Computer Security Foundations Symposium (pp. 169-183).
IEEE.
Culnane, C., Ryan, P.Y., Schneider, S. and Teague, V., 2015. vVote: a verifiable voting
system. ACM Transactions on Information and System Security (TISSEC), 18(1), p.3.

10POLITICAL SCIENCE
Elections.wa.gov.au (2019). [online] Elections.wa.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/documents/
ECANZ_Internet_Voting_Aus.pdf [Accessed 18 May 2019].
Hao, F., Kreeger, M.N., Randell, B., Clarke, D., Shahandashti, S.F. and Lee, P.H.J., 2014. Every
vote counts: Ensuring integrity in large-scale electronic voting. In 2014 Electronic Voting
Technology Workshop/Workshop on Trustworthy Elections (EVT/WOTE 14).
Hill, L. and Alport, K., 2007. Reconnecting Australia's politically excluded: Electronic pathways
to electoral inclusion. International Journal of Electronic Government Research (IJEGR), 3(4),
pp.1-19.
Kiayias, A., Zacharias, T. and Zhang, B., 2015, April. End-to-end verifiable elections in the
standard model. In Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of
Cryptographic Techniques (pp. 468-498). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Küsters, R., Müller, J., Scapin, E. and Truderung, T., 2016, June. sElect: A lightweight verifiable
remote voting system. In 2016 IEEE 29th Computer Security Foundations Symposium
(CSF) (pp. 341-354). IEEE.
Lee, K., James, J.I., Ejeta, T.G. and Kim, H.J., 2016. Electronic voting service using block-
chain. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 11(2), p.8.
Osgood, R., 2016. The future of democracy: Blockchain voting. COMP116: Information
Security.
Owlett, J. and TYABJI, I.F., International Business Machines Corp, 2018. Method and system
for the supply of data, transactions and electronic voting. U.S. Patent Application 10/135,797.

11POLITICAL SCIENCE
Parliament.vic.gov.au. (2019). [online] Parliament.vic.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/emc/Inquiry_into_Electronic_Voti
ng/Submissions/No_11_Teague_Gore.pdf [Accessed 18 May 2019].
Smith, R., 2016. Confidence in paper-based and electronic voting channels: evidence from
Australia. Australian Journal of Political Science, 51(1), pp.68-85.
Zissis, D. ed., 2014. Design, Development, and Use of Secure Electronic Voting Systems. IGI
Global.