Panel positive on internet voting

Steve Baron Photo/File

The Online Voting Working Party, established by the Government in September 2013, has made a positive recommendation on the feasibility of internet voting in local body elections.

The diverse group of 11 people entrusted with the job ranged from IT professionals to Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett and political commentator and blogger David Farrar.

The group has recommended that the Department of Internal Affairs "should take the lead to establish a partnership approach with local government and other important strategic partners to further work on online voting".

Wisely, the group has endorsed a slow implementation policy with extended non-binding, then eventually binding trials, in the 2016 elections to ensure public confidence in the system that is eventually adopted.

The group also highlighted that online voting should not replace postal ballots but suggested that over time that is a likely possibility.

It based its decisions on internet voting experiences from places like Australia, Estonia and Switzerland.

Given that 92 per cent of New Zealanders have access to the internet and the vast majority of us bank, complete our Census forms and buy goods and services online in growing numbers, it is not a matter of "if" but "when" this option will be available to New Zealanders.

Being able to vote online will become an important part of the political process, especially when it comes to referendums and the triggering of referendums.

Having the ability to trigger a referendum by collecting the required number of signatures online would be a paradigm shift in the way we conduct our democracy.

While electronic voting (voting machines with poorly designed and poorly tested voting equipment) in the United States initially gave anything other than ballot box voting a bad name, internet voting has now started to collect a robust history of successes.

Times do change and political systems must change with the times.

Just remember it wasn't all that long ago that male politicians believed women had no interest or inclination for political matters and, therefore, should not have the right to vote.

As a person who travels overseas regularly, being able to cast my vote wherever I was in the world would certainly make voting a more pleasurable experience. Let's watch this space with anticipation.

Steve Baron is a political commentator, co-editor of the book People Power and the Founder of Better Democracy NZ.