Andrew Austin, Editor Hawke's Bay Today.
After low voter turnout across the country in last Saturday's local government election, it surely must be time we started agitating for online voting.
It makes sense that the way to engage the younger generation who spend most of their time with their face buried in a screen of some
size and description is to make it easy to vote online.
It would be quite simple to find a secure way of doing so. I am not saying that we must throw out the old system - keep that as an option, but simply make it possible for people to go online for a few minutes and fulfil their democratic obligations.
I am certain it would be appealing to many people if they could do that. Look how online banking has revolutionised our lives.
For those who want to transfer money between accounts or pay bills at midnight, they are able to do so in the comfort of their homes. Those that still like to go out and physically do their transactions at the bank are still able to, but the point is about giving people options.
The problem is that the present Government does not see it as a priority because the lacklustre response to the elections cannot definitely be pinpointed to the lack of online voting.
