The state of West Virginia would be the first in the U.S.. to offer a smartphone voting app, however, experts say there are many reasons not to rush into providing the app.
When Mac Warner was in the military, he could not vote in two U.S. elections because he was overseas, he could neither receive nor submit a ballot.
When he became the Secretary of State of West Virginia in 2017, after retiring as a lieutenant colonel, Warner wanted to find a way to make voting easier for people in that situation. Starting this year, that state will offer an electronic voting system called Voatz.
Nevertheless, although Internet voting is already a reality, West Virginia is limiting online voting to citizens living abroad and to people in the military along with those in the Merchant Marine. The effort is made possible by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which allows voters to cast their ballot through any form of electronic transmission, including fax or email.
That means West Virginia will be the first state to offer an online voting app for smartphones.
“Queremos que nuestros votantes sepan que estamos haciendo todo lo posible para brindarles a nuestros miembros de servicios uniformados y ciudadanos en el extranjero la misma facilidad de acceso a una papeleta electoral que tenemos en el estado”, dijo Donald “Deak” Kersey, oficial de elecciones de Virginia Occidental y asesor jurídico adjunto de Warner.
Pero los expertos dicen que cumplir con tu deber cívico desde tu sofá puede estar cargado de dilemas de seguridad que podrían minar nuestras elecciones, como cambiar el resultado de una papeleta. Sin mencionar la posibilidad de que, en un gran ataque, su información privada pueda terminar en manos de personas que no deberían tenerla. Además también advierten que un sistema de votación en línea sería vulnerable a la manipulación.