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Voting Online: Technology and Democracy in Municipal Elections (Volume 17)
228 pages, Paperback
Published June 4, 2024
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August 16, 2025
Voting Online: Technology and Democracy in Municipal Elections, by Nicole Goodman et al., is an interesting survey of perception of online voting adoption at the municipal level in Ontario. Canada has see online voting used at a municipal level since 2003, making it an early adopter of online voting at a local level. Voting is still not used in Provincial or Federal elections at the time of writing this review. In Ontario, over half of Ontario's 444 municipalities utilize online voting. This book examines perceptions of online voting among electors, candidates and municipal administrators, looking at perceptions among these groups of who would like to see an e-voting option, who would most benefit, and perceptions of voter turnout, democratic benefit, and so forth.
Electors are generally favourable to the adoption of online voting in Ontario, and surprisingly, older voters seem to be the group that is most supportive, with more indifference of the method among younger voters. Discourse on online voting generally revolves around voter turnout, which has seen a steady decline in recent years at all three levels of government, but significantly at the local level. Also surprisingly, analysis of municipalities that had adopted online voting found little to no impact on voter turnout. Instead, positivity around democracy increased. This shows that other factors, such as a spicy race or other pressing issues, might have more of an impact on turnout than the method of voting on offer. Candidates were generally favourable to online voting, but differed on ideological grounds, with those on the left more supportive than those on the right. The study of electors, however, noted that voters do not have significant ideological reasons to support online voting, and are instead generally favourable to increasing methods of voting - an opinion at odds with candidates perceptions of the benefits/harms to their own election prospects. An incumbent/challenger analysis notes that impact to either would be marginal - again, the contest itself seems to be more of the crux of who is getting elected, although incumbents at the local level in Ontario are elected at a rate of 90%, showing a high degree of trust in established politicians by local electors, or at least the perception of low impact viability for challengers.
Election administrators in Ontario (generally from a city clerk's office or legislative office) run and manage elections, as well as corporate and administrative support for candidates in elections, members of the public as the vote and participate in governance structures post election, and continued support for elected candidates as they get into the business of governing. Administrators are exceedingly positive about online voting in municipalities that have adopted the method, and cautiously optimistic about it in municipalities that have not. The book also examines two major factors in perceptions on online voting - the 2018 bandwidth issue in local elections, where those voting online experienced technical issues with voting, which in some cases broke the medium, and the 2020 global pandemic. Administrators were lightly concerned with the 2018 event, with 20% noting that is would have a strong negative impact on positive perceptions of online voting, but with 80% noting it would have no impact. The 2020 pandemic, however, was a strong indicator of increased support for online voting, as many clerk's offices around the province adopted online tools for supporting council, broadcasting and live streaming council meetings, and engaging in the development of tools to promote greater engagement online Interestingly, administrators are less concerned with voter turnout, than they are with accessibility and convenience of voting for electors (although these two factors are positively related to turnout).
This was an interesting read chronicling the increasing positive perception of online voting in Ontario, and a great statistical analysis and survey of the three most important groups in an election (electors, candidates and administrators) and their perceptions of online voting. This book is a great addition to the growing analysis of municipal governance in Ontario, and an important read for those interested in online voting as a method of participation in elections.
Electors are generally favourable to the adoption of online voting in Ontario, and surprisingly, older voters seem to be the group that is most supportive, with more indifference of the method among younger voters. Discourse on online voting generally revolves around voter turnout, which has seen a steady decline in recent years at all three levels of government, but significantly at the local level. Also surprisingly, analysis of municipalities that had adopted online voting found little to no impact on voter turnout. Instead, positivity around democracy increased. This shows that other factors, such as a spicy race or other pressing issues, might have more of an impact on turnout than the method of voting on offer. Candidates were generally favourable to online voting, but differed on ideological grounds, with those on the left more supportive than those on the right. The study of electors, however, noted that voters do not have significant ideological reasons to support online voting, and are instead generally favourable to increasing methods of voting - an opinion at odds with candidates perceptions of the benefits/harms to their own election prospects. An incumbent/challenger analysis notes that impact to either would be marginal - again, the contest itself seems to be more of the crux of who is getting elected, although incumbents at the local level in Ontario are elected at a rate of 90%, showing a high degree of trust in established politicians by local electors, or at least the perception of low impact viability for challengers.
Election administrators in Ontario (generally from a city clerk's office or legislative office) run and manage elections, as well as corporate and administrative support for candidates in elections, members of the public as the vote and participate in governance structures post election, and continued support for elected candidates as they get into the business of governing. Administrators are exceedingly positive about online voting in municipalities that have adopted the method, and cautiously optimistic about it in municipalities that have not. The book also examines two major factors in perceptions on online voting - the 2018 bandwidth issue in local elections, where those voting online experienced technical issues with voting, which in some cases broke the medium, and the 2020 global pandemic. Administrators were lightly concerned with the 2018 event, with 20% noting that is would have a strong negative impact on positive perceptions of online voting, but with 80% noting it would have no impact. The 2020 pandemic, however, was a strong indicator of increased support for online voting, as many clerk's offices around the province adopted online tools for supporting council, broadcasting and live streaming council meetings, and engaging in the development of tools to promote greater engagement online Interestingly, administrators are less concerned with voter turnout, than they are with accessibility and convenience of voting for electors (although these two factors are positively related to turnout).
This was an interesting read chronicling the increasing positive perception of online voting in Ontario, and a great statistical analysis and survey of the three most important groups in an election (electors, candidates and administrators) and their perceptions of online voting. This book is a great addition to the growing analysis of municipal governance in Ontario, and an important read for those interested in online voting as a method of participation in elections.
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