Electronic snoops vacuum up huge amounts of data for commercial purposes. An online ballot might not be a secret ballot, and a voter's choices would be another bit of salable information. If adopted now, online voting would create a privileged class of voters and a skewed electorate. Less than half of American households have Internet access, and online voting would favor the computer-literate, those better off and the better educated. Rather than increase voter participation, it would only make it more convenient for those who, in any case, are most likely to vote.
Convenience is overrated.
A citizen who won't take the trouble to obtain an absentee ballot or get to the local polling place on election day maybe shouldn't vote. Finally, voting in person is a civic rite that goes back to the founding of this country. E-voting is an idea whose time hasn't come yet, and maybe shouldn't. E.W. Scripps Publications , All Rights Reserved. Site users are subject to our User Agreement .