Some countries found it implement an online voting system due to voter authentication.
They do not know who is an authorized voter.
They do not have a proper register of voters. Some of the citizens have died, but their names still remain on the register. It was possible for another person to vote on behalf of the dead person.
They also face the problem of authenticating the person who turn up to vote. There is no identity card that is issued to identify the person.
In some cases, the person produces a driving licence as proof of identity, but some people do not have a driving licence of the licence could be forged.
They have other means of proving identity but these means are also subject to fraud.
This problem exists with a manual voting system. It is carried forward to an online system.
Ideally, an online voting system allows a person to login at a website, provide proof of his identity and submit his vote. This requires a proper register of voter, which has been updated to remove voters who have died or given up their citizenship, and to have the the user code and password to fully identify that person.
If the online authentication is not available to some voters, the voter can still turn up at the voting station and provide proof of identity. The voter can then submit the vote which is captured in the database.
The online voting will make it easy to count the votes electronically.
There is another concern about online voting, in that the voter may be influenced by another person when submitting the vote, as the voting is carried out in the home or elsewhere, other than a supervised voting center.
This concern also applies to postal voting. If postal voting is allowed, there should be no valid objection to online voting.
If this concern about voter influence is serious, the voting can be arranged at any supervised voting center, including overseas embassies. It should be possible to provide many centers for voting and the voter can vote at any center. There is no need for the voting to appear at a voting center that is designated for the voter.
Singapore has the advantage of a reliable register of voters which has been kept up to date. It has the further advantage of a means of online authentication using SingPass.
It should be possible for Singapore to introduce online voting, without facing the challenges that affect many other countries without a proper register of voters and the means of online authentication.
With our advantage, we should move forward to introduce online voting and provide a positive example to other countries of how such a system can work.
There is a need to make sure that the votes are recorded correctly and that they cannot be altered fraudulently. I will write about this issue in a separate post.
Tan Kin Lian
They do not know who is an authorized voter.
They do not have a proper register of voters. Some of the citizens have died, but their names still remain on the register. It was possible for another person to vote on behalf of the dead person.
They also face the problem of authenticating the person who turn up to vote. There is no identity card that is issued to identify the person.
In some cases, the person produces a driving licence as proof of identity, but some people do not have a driving licence of the licence could be forged.
They have other means of proving identity but these means are also subject to fraud.
This problem exists with a manual voting system. It is carried forward to an online system.
Ideally, an online voting system allows a person to login at a website, provide proof of his identity and submit his vote. This requires a proper register of voter, which has been updated to remove voters who have died or given up their citizenship, and to have the the user code and password to fully identify that person.
If the online authentication is not available to some voters, the voter can still turn up at the voting station and provide proof of identity. The voter can then submit the vote which is captured in the database.
The online voting will make it easy to count the votes electronically.
There is another concern about online voting, in that the voter may be influenced by another person when submitting the vote, as the voting is carried out in the home or elsewhere, other than a supervised voting center.
This concern also applies to postal voting. If postal voting is allowed, there should be no valid objection to online voting.
If this concern about voter influence is serious, the voting can be arranged at any supervised voting center, including overseas embassies. It should be possible to provide many centers for voting and the voter can vote at any center. There is no need for the voting to appear at a voting center that is designated for the voter.
Singapore has the advantage of a reliable register of voters which has been kept up to date. It has the further advantage of a means of online authentication using SingPass.
It should be possible for Singapore to introduce online voting, without facing the challenges that affect many other countries without a proper register of voters and the means of online authentication.
With our advantage, we should move forward to introduce online voting and provide a positive example to other countries of how such a system can work.
There is a need to make sure that the votes are recorded correctly and that they cannot be altered fraudulently. I will write about this issue in a separate post.
Tan Kin Lian
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