Cyber Surfing, Yes; E-Voting, No

It was a first. Arizona Democrats were allowed to cast their primary ballots over the Internet and a lot of folks have hailed e-voting as a great innovation. We’re not so sure.

Privacy and fraud are real concerns. So is the chance that e-voting could amplify voices that are loud enough already - the well off and well educated who own computers and know how to use them.

But we have another complaint. We think voting should be a communal act, not just a private one. Citizens should cast their ballots together, in a public place, so they are reminded that their decisions impact public life and the public good.

We are not Web bashers. Both of us use the Internet every day and love it. We researched this column on the Web and sent it to our editors by e-mail. Steve’s students at George Washington University use the Web constantly to expand their reading and resources - and to e-mail their professor requesting extensions on their papers! Both of our children are in the Web business in one form or another.

Moreover, we see the value in e-voting. Folks who have trouble getting to the polls - shut-ins, rural residents, travelers or just harassed parents holding two jobs - can vote on their own schedule. And there’s some hope that young people who are turned off by politics would be more likely to vote in cyberspace. The number of Democrats casting ballots in Arizona tripled from four years ago and anything that boosts voter turnout has definite virtue.

But there are also serious drawbacks to e-voting and one is the potential for mischief, even outright fraud. Exhibit A: the recent guerrilla attacks on well-known Web sites. Disrupting an election could be a hacker’s dream.

The possible threat to privacy is equally serious. The secret ballot is one of our most fundamental rights. And most of us are already inundated with unwanted junk, calls and commercials of all kinds. Should state governments get even more information about us that they can then sell to ever eager entrepreneurs?

Then there is the access issue. No matter how many computers are set up in libraries and fire stations, Internet voting makes it easier for the privileged to exercise their franchise. That means their votes could weigh more heavily than those of the digitally deprived.

We also worry that online voting could accelerate other forms of political pressure that are not entirely good. The notion is already developing that, in the future, elected representatives should take e-mail surveys on every issue and vote according to the result.

But that contradicts a basic underpinning of representative government, that elected officials should be guided by principles as well as polls. Our legislators should be people of judgment and reason, not just cyber-robots responding to the twists and twitches of instant messages.

The biggest problem with e-voting, however, is the nature of voting itself. Of course, each citizen makes his or her own decision. But our communities and our country are poorer places if voters think only of themselves and their own interests, and not the broader neighborhood or national interest. And, voters are more likely to consider those broader interests if they have to get out of their houses, away from their computers, and drive or walk to their local polling places.

Just recently we had to do exactly that - drive about a mile or so from our home here in Bethesda to the local elementary school in order to vote in the Maryland primary. On the way we passed work crews putting in new water lines, police patrols cruising the streets, neighbors jogging and biking on a recently built trail that was once a railroad line. The school itself is brand new, right next to the public library.

We don’t jog, have kids in school or use the library very much. But on election day it’s nice to be reminded of what we do together, as a community, to help each other.

Besides, we like seeing the volunteers outside the school, campaigning for their candidates. We like greeting the folks who donate their time to check the records and hand out the ballots. And we like getting our little stickers that say, “I voted.” We wear them proudly all day.

Computers are great tools but not necessarily for voting. Political participation is a civic act not a solitary one. We should vote together, not separately.