E-voting vs. e-trust: a test bed for e-democracy in a world in crisis?

摘要

The world is currently experiencing a number of real challenges in the face of persistent economic crisis, local conflicts and huge waves of refugees. All of the above are affecting secure access to, completion of peoples' voting rights and participation in Democratic processes in their homeland. The relevant technological solutions appear to have matured and have successfully responded to rigorous testing. The need for digital access to election events is today higher than ever in the digital age. The question that remains to be answered is whether all this is enough to inspire people to trust the systems and participate in e-voting; particularly in areas where the political climate might be volatile and Trust is a rare commodity. The authors present the outcome of a survey among the Palestinian diaspora to gauge their trust and willingness to use e-voting systems in the Palestinian Authority's elections. This work does not consider political implications or even the willingness of a specific government to embrace e-voting for conducting elections.