Question: The Scottish Government has announced that it will be undertaking pilots of electronic voting for elections. Do you think the introduction of electronic voting is a good idea?

Your feedback: Yes –77% (37 respondents) No – 23% (11 respondents)

Your comments:

Benefits of Electronic Voting

“Electronic Voting is long over due. As long as they ensure it is fully Accessible to Screen Readers etc. Electronic Voting will also encourage our younger members of society to participate.”

“I feel this would be great for autistic people who struggle with sensory issues who can then vote from their own homes.”

“Yes but elderly people may be easily confused on how to use it.”

“Moving forward with the time. Likely to engage with more people as younger folks like to use electronic means. people for get to go but a quick electronic reminder and then it is just done”

“We need to move with the times. We are behind many other counties who have used this tried and tested means of voting.It will be much quicker. Results will be available much sooner. Could benefit disabled people if it could be done remotely without the need to visit a polling station.”

I think it will help get more votes and it will help disabled people a lot too as although you can have a postal vote you still have to go out and find a post box. It’s even worse if your disability means you’re no good with pen and paper.

“Benefits for those with mobility issues in getting access to polling stations.”

“Will be giving opportunities to those who have a physical or mental issue to vote without going through all the barriers that exists.”

“Electronic voting will certainly encourage many more people to vote and for certain people it will remove barriers, however for many I think this will introduce barriers. UX user testing should be deployed prior to any rollout of any pilot scheme so that a range of people can test the equipment and provide feedback prior to the system going live.”

Concerns of Electronic Voting

“I am concerned that people in care Homes could have their vote abused by a member of staff using a works pc or laptop to vote for who they support”

“Concerns about security of voting – system could be open to abuse so a careful recognition system would have to be in place, as well as concerns about the security of voters’ details and data protection.”

“There are many existing systems. Let’s not reinvent the wheel for the sake of it. There should also be extensive testing with special needs users (screen readers etc) to verify accessibility and usability.”

“Can easily be tampered with but so can any system”

“I remember the debacle of previous attempts. Stringent testing MUST be applied this time.”

“Concerns over hacking, security of received votes… anything held online could be accessed or interfered with by any number of agencies”

“Until everyone across Scotland has access to digital technology, the wherewithal to purchase devices, the ability to use the technology and access to 4G then this should not be considered.”

“I spoke to one man last week who was putting off attending training because the questions had to be answered digitally and he couldn’t get the hang of using a mouse. Many others are confused about logging on, don’t have e-mail addresses, are scared about the technology. I think there are still too many barriers to everyone participating and a growing feeling amongst those who don’t/can’t that nobody cares.”

“It’s a terrible idea and undermines the very principle of a secret ballot. If implemented it is yet another step towards people never interacting with anyone else; living our lives through a screen”