The " e " Vote option !

Yesterday the citizens of Western Australia trooped to voting booths to elect their representatives in the Federal Senate - again  !    They first made their choice last September and the count was so close that a recount was ordered - and somewhere in the mass of paper to be sorted - 1370 votes went missing.

Many people will grumble at the need to go through the process of establishing their identity to election officials, wait in long queues to be processed - and indeed the outcome of this election will probably be different to the September result.

Voting by way of making one's mark on pieces of paper is very " last century ".   The vast array of financial services are now conducted by the tap of a key on some sort of electronic keyboard.  Most of us pay our bills via the Internet and if it is secure enough to safely handle our money, then surely it could record the intentions of citizens in making a voting choice.

Not only would " e " voting lower the cost of elections, but it would deliver the outcome mere moments after the polls close.  Computers and Smartphones place the means of electronic voting across the broad spectrum of citizens - and it's introduction in Australia seems to be inevitable.

The first country to switch to " e " voting was the Baltic state of Estonia back in 2007.   Voters were given the choice of recording their vote via the Internet or continuing the paper method by way of a visit to a voting booth - and just 3.4% chose electronic in that first year.    Four years later, the " e " option swelled to 25%.

That would be a timely choice for Australia.   There is no doubt that some people would be suspicious of the integrity of electronic voting and certainly there is a proportion of the population who still lack the ability to use an ATM, but that percentage shrinks each year as even Kindergarten children embrace the electronic age.

The determining factor in introducing " e " voting would seem to be a mutual agreement between the two major political parties.   It would be a fatal flaw to even think of it's introduction if it were favoured by one party and rejected by the other.    Many people are hostile to any form of change simply because they don't understand that changed times need new thinking and " e " voting would need to be politically neutral.

Judging by the present consensus in parliament,  " e " voting is unlikely to come to Australia in the foreseeable future !