Beware of leaping too soon to the Internet. That's the conclusion of a National Science Foundation-sponsored study. It's similar to the findings of a task force convened by California Secretary of State Bill Jones. Last year's Democratic primary in Arizona was the first binding Internet election. But optimists and vendors are pushing it as an immediate remedy.
Internet voting does offer advantages of speed of tabulation and convenience.
And it invites problems of fraud, coercion and voter misidentification. The authors of the NSF report urged a go-slow approach, starting with Internet voting at regular precincts. The next stage would be Internet voting machines at kiosks and at malls, where security could be monitored. Finally, voting would migrate to home and work. But that, the report says, is years away.