Some are thinking that we seriously need an overhaul of the way we vote, especially in comparison to places like Arizona that vote mostly by mail, or even countries, like Estonia, that vote entirely online.
Voting in Estonia
Having to vote during a pandemic is proving to be worrisome for many people, especially now as voting by mail has been thrust into the spotlight by the President. As a result some are thinking that we seriously need an overhaul of the way we vote, especially in comparison to places like Arizona vote mostly by mail, or even countries, like Estonia, that vote entirely online. In fact, Estonia has been doing just about everything online since 2005, through an extremely secure, state run system that has become a blessing in the lives of its citizens during the pandemic as everything from medical records to the DMV can be dealt with online.
How this affects the U.S.?
Democracy in times like these usually brings into question concerns about civil liberties. While wearing a mask is done all over the world normally without any issue, another problem that we are facing is that this is an election year. Low voter turnout favors Republicans and has been acknowledged by the president himself to be the only way his party will stay in power. The only solution to this is voter suppression as much as possible and in the face of a pandemic this is taking the form of cuts to the U.S. Postal Service that means many will have to vote by mail weeks ahead in order to have their vote counted depending on the state. Early in class we established that -participation is vital to a democracy but we now have a president who sees that as a way he may lose power and is hurting our democracy by claiming that it’s not secure when it is. He is also putting measures into the Post Office that will surely mean votes will not be counted as he is ordering them to slow the mail down.
What can we learn from Estonia?
In Estonia the way they vote is through a secure website as well as heavily investing in the cyber security industry in order to maintain a secure election. Almost everything is done online so they have to take security seriously as everyone’s most important documents are online. People sign into secure servers with secure and unique key cards provided and maintained by the state. As a result the slowdown in day to day activities was not really an issue in Estonia as they were already on the way to if not already at a stage where all essential services were online. Even switching to online education proved to be easier as internet in the country is everywhere and the government paid to educate its people on how to use computers, even the elderly.
Bibliography-
[1] Written by Jana Silaškova, e-Governance Project Manager. “How Estonia’s Digital Society Became a Lifeline during COVID-19.” World Economic Forum. Accessed August 4, 2020. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/estonia-advanced-digital-society-here-s-how-that-helped-it-during-covid-19/.
[2] “Weighing in on the Future of Internet Voting.” International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Accessed August 4, 2020. https://www.ifes.org/news/weighing-future-internet-voting.
[3] Jankowicz, Nina. “Estonia Already Lives Online-Why Can’t the United States?,” May 27, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/05/estonia-america-congress-online-pandemic/612034/.
[4] Blake, Aaron. “Analysis | Trump Just Comes out and Says It: The GOP Is Hurt When It’s Easier to Vote.” The Washington Post. WP Company, March 30, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/30/trump-voting-republicans/.
[5] “In Estonia, Almost Everything – from Voting to Updating Medical Records – Can Be Done Online.” The World from PRX. Accessed August 4, 2020. https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-12-14/estonia-almost-everything-voting-updating-medical-records-can-be-done-online.