October 2008
Teddy Bennett

Like many other democracies, the United States is addressing the need to improve its election process to ensure that all citizens can vote freely, easily, and securely.

During the past decade the world has experienced a significant focus on the process of voting. Many countries are using new technologies to select their leaders. Voters in India, the world's largest democracy, cast their ballots using electronic push-button technology, while voters in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, present a modern identification card with photo and thumbprint when obtaining their ballot.

With the increasing penetration of the Internet throughout the world, and certainly within many countries, e-democracy is a concept that is beginning to take hold and spread rapidly. Several countries, including Estonia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and England, now allow their citizens to cast ballots via the Internet.

Living in a global and mobile society, citizens of any country who are living abroad face difficult challenges to participate in elections. The estimated 6 million Americans abroad have had a difficult time casting their ballots, with most having to use a cumbersome postal process to exercise their right to vote. The Overseas Vote Foundation and the EAC have estimated that more than one in four of these citizens who attempt to vote are not having their ballots counted. Efforts by the U.S. Federal Voting Assistance Program to improve the process have helped, but a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office indicates much more needs to be done.

Some states can now fax or e-mail ballots, and others are testing new technologies in hopes of making the process of voting from overseas simpler. For instance, voters who are registered in Arizona but live overseas will be able to vote online through a unique Web-based system.

The Secretary of State's Military and Overseas Voting system will allow registered voters to apply for early ballots online and then submit their ballots electronically using a document scanner. Previously, Arizona elections officials allowed them to vote by faxing their ballots.

"They still can vote by fax, and now they have the option of voting on the Internet," Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer said.

In order to use EZ Voter Registration service voters must have an Arizona Driver License and/or an Arizona non-operating Identification Card. Upon successful completion of the online EZ Voter registration, the voter will receive a confirmation number.

The Secretary of State's office developed the system itself and gained approval from the U.S. Department of Justice. Officials included a 128-bit encryption technology. All confidential records are kept locked inside an "electronic vault" protected by the IBM Secureway (tm) line of products.

"We wanted to be absolutely sure it couldn't be hacked into," Brewer said.

The system will send eligible voters an early ballot online and an affidavit that they must sign to authorize the vote. The voter can print out the documents, fill them out and then upload the ballot and affidavit into a computer using a scanner. The system will allow the voter to send those documents directly to the Secretary of State's Web site.