PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA Electoral Matters Committee Inquiry into electronic voting Parliament of Victoria Electoral Matters Committee Ordered to be published VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER May 2017 PP No 284, Session 2014‑17 ISBN 978 1 925458 72 5 (print version) 978 1 925458 73 2 (PDF version) Committee functions The Electoral Matters Committee is constituted under section 9A of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003. The committee’s functions are to inquire into, consider and report to the Parliament on any proposal, matter or thing concerned with: a. the conduct of parliamentary elections and referendums in Victoria; b. the conduct of elections of Councillors under the Local Government Act 1989; and c. the administration of, or practices associated with, the Electoral Act 2002 and any other law relating to electoral matters. Inquiry into electronic voting iii Committee membership Hon Louise Asher MP Ms Ros Spence MP Chair Deputy Chair Brighton Yuroke Ms Lizzie Blandthorn MP Hon Martin Dixon MP Hon Russell Northe MP Pascoe Vale Nepean Morwell Ms Fiona Patten MLC Hon Adem Somyurek MLC Northern Metropolitan South‑Eastern Metropolitan Inquiry into electronic voting v Committee secretariat Staff Mark Roberts, Executive Officer Nathaniel Reader, Research Officer Bernadette Pendergast, Committee Administration Officer, Mondays and Tuesdays Maria Marasco, Committee Administration Officer, Wednesdays and Thursdays Committee contact details Address Electoral Matters Committee Parliament of Victoria, Spring Street EAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002 Phone 61 3 8682 2885 Email [email protected] Web www.parliament.vic.gov.au/emc This report is available on the Committee’s website. vi Electoral Matters Committee Contents Preliminaries Committee functions iii Committee membership v Committee secretariat vi Terms of reference xi Chair’s foreword xiii Recommendations xv 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Terms of reference – Inquiry into electronic voting 1 1.2 Responsibilities of the Electoral Matters Committee 1 1.3 The Electoral Matters Committee’s previous inquiries 1 1.4 Inquiry process 2 1.4.1 Submissions 3 1.4.2 Public hearings 5 1.4.3 Briefings 6 1.4.4 Site visits 6 1.5 Data analysis 8 1.6 Report outline 8 2 Background to the inquiry — electronic voting and election technology at Victorian state elections 9 2.1 Definitions 10 2.1.1 Electronic voting 10 2.2 Electronic voting in Victoria 13 2.2.1 History 13 2.2.2 Franchise 15 2.2.3 Statistics and voter satisfaction 16 2.2.4 How it works 17 2.2.5 Electronic voting and source codes – technical aspects 18 2.2.6 Postal voting – email delivery of ballot material 18 2.3 Technology and Victorian electoral administration 19 2.3.1 Enrolment 19 2.3.2 Computer counting of Legislative Council ballot papers 22 2.3.3 Communication 23 2.3.4 Election management – EMS 24 2.3.5 How the VEC provides services to political parties 24 2.4 The Parliament of Victoria and electronic voting 25 2.5 Chapter conclusion 27 Inquiry into electronic voting vii Contents 3 Electronic voting and election technology in Australia 29 3.1 History of electronic voting in Australia 30 3.1.1 Timeline of electronic voting in Australia – key events 30 3.2 Major drivers of electronic voting in Australian electoral administration 35 3.2.1 Social change 35 3.2.2 Australian households, the Internet and mobile phone technology 36 3.2.3 Population mobility and geographic change 37 3.2.4 Challenges associated with the postal service, and postal voting in general 38 3.2.5 2013 and 2016 federal elections, calls for electronic voting 39 3.2.6 ‘No major crisis’ concept, or path dependency 41 3.3 Arguments for and against electronic voting, focusing on remote voting 41 3.3.1 Arguments for electronic voting 42 3.3.2 Arguments against electronic voting 46 3.4 Electronic voting and election technology in Australia 51 3.4.1 Federal elections 52 3.4.2 Australian Capital Territory 53 3.4.3 New South Wales – iVote 56 3.4.4 Queensland 62 3.4.5 South Australia 63 3.4.6 Western Australia 63 3.4.7 Tasmania 63 3.4.8 Northern Territory 64 4 Electronic voting in international jurisdictions 65 4.1 Estonia 65 4.1.1 Organisations with whom the committee met 65 4.1.2 Estonia’s electoral system 65 4.1.3 History of electronic voting in Estonia 67 4.2 Denmark 72 4.2.1 Organisations with whom the committee met 72 4.2.2 Denmark’s electoral system 72 4.2.3 Discussion about electronic voting in Denmark 73 4.3 United Kingdom 74 4.3.1 Organisations with whom the committee met 74 4.3.2 The UK’s electoral system 74 4.3.3 Advance voting and postal voting 75 4.3.4 Electronic voting pilots 75 4.3.5 Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy 76 4.3.6 Attitudes towards electronic voting 76 viii Electoral Matters Committee Contents 4.4 United States of America 77 4.4.1 Organisations with whom the committee met 77 4.4.2 US electoral system 78 4.4.3 Electronic voting in the United States 78 4.4.4 Meeting with Electoral Assistance Commission 80 4.4.5 Meeting with Alexandria City 81 4.4.6 Arlington County Board of Elections 83 4.4.7 Fairfax County Board of Elections 86 4.4.8 New York State Board of Elections 88 4.4.9 Brennan Centre for Justice 89 4.5 New Zealand 91 4.5.1 Local government trials 91 4.5.2 Electoral participation at New Zealand elections 93 5 Electronic voting and election technology in Victoria; evidence and proposals 95 5.1 Remote electronic voting 96 5.1.1 Proposals for remote voting – adopting iVote 96 5.1.2 Proposals for remote voting – iVote ‘modified’ 104 5.1.3 Proposals for remote voting – do not adopt iVote 105 5.1.4 Specific evidence about remote voting systems 106 5.1.5 Security and ballot design concerns 121 5.1.6 Contact details of electronic voters 123 5.1.7 Alternative electronic voting systems 123 5.1.8 Specific evidence about electoral participation and electronic voting 124 5.2 Expanding kiosk voting 131 5.2.1 Expanding vVote 132 5.3 Election technology at Victorian state elections 137 5.3.1 Electronic roll mark off in Victoria 137 5.3.2 Electronic ballot paper scanning 139 Appendices 1 List of submissions 141 2 Public Hearings 143 3 Domestic site visits 145 4 New Zealand site visits 147 5 International site visits 149 6 Electoral Matters Committee reports and discussion papers 151 Inquiry into electronic voting ix Terms of reference Inquiry into electronic voting Received from the Legislative Assembly on 7 October 2015: That, under s33 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003, an inquiry be referred to the Electoral Matters Committee for consideration and report no later than 30 April 2017 on: 1. the forms of electronic voting currently utilised in Victoria and other jurisdictions and their effectiveness; and 2. alternatives that are available that if implemented would ensure the continued integrity and security of the electronic voting system. Inquiry into electronic voting xi Chair’s foreword I am pleased to present the Electoral Matters Committee’s report on its enquiry into electronic voting to the Victorian Parliament. The Committee received a reference from the Government on electronic voting in the context of significant community interest in this matter. The Committee advertised its enquiry and held a series of public hearings, where State Electoral Commissions, experts in technology and other interested parties further explained their submissions. The Committee is indebted to all of those who made submissions and is most appreciative of those who were prepared to appear before the Committee at our public hearings to provide further details of their experience and knowledge. I wish to thank the Deputy Chair of the Electoral Matters Committee, Ros Spence, and the other members of the Electoral Matters Committee – Martin Dixon, Russell Northe, Adem Somyurek, Lizzie Blandthorn and Fiona Patten. The Victorian Parliament is fortunate to have Committee members who are so engaged in all aspects of the Committee’s work. The Committee had to consider two competing forces as a consequence of this enquiry. Firstly, the Committee is aware of a significant and growing desire across the voting public for electronic voting. Secondly, the Committee received overwhelming evidence that it is extremely difficult to guarantee the security of votes lodged electronically. Whilst the simplistic view is frequently put that if members of the public can conduct their banking with confidence online, then similarly members of the public should be able to cast their votes online. However, the expert evidence gathered by the Committee advised that the success to banking online is guaranteed by linking the name of the person doing the banking and the transaction. In our democracy, a secret ballot is a fundamental right of every individual in Australia and that this severed link between the person casting a vote and the ability of the system to check it, makes electronic voting a far more difficult technical proposition. However, the Committee is also conscious of the fact that the postal system, on which we will rely for postal votes for the next State election in 2018, is a vastly different postal system from the one that operated decades ago. The enquiry also took place during the 2016 Federal Election and during the 2016 Census. While both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition called for electronic voting immediately after the delay in obtaining the Federal Election result, both Members of Parliament and the public shortly thereafter experienced the 2016 Australian Census which demonstrated the problems that could arise over an electronic approach, certainly an electronic approach over an entire project.