Is Voting by Mobile App a Good Idea?

For centuries, the only way to vote was to show up in person. You raised your hand to vote “yea” or “nay,” or you marked a piece of paper that was collected and counted. Easy—as long as you could get to the polls.

But the coronavirus pandemic has people questioning the way we do a lot of things—especially activities that require a large number of people to gather in enclosed spaces for more than a few minutes at a time. Such conditions are prime for spreading the virus—and happen to be the ones under which most Americans vote.

That is why some people are looking for safer alternatives. Voting is important, they say, but Americans shouldn’t have to risk their health and maybe even their lives to do it.

Mailing in ballots is one option. Five states now conduct elections entirely by mail, and many others have recently allowed all voters to request mail-in ballots. But some people suggest yet another alternative to voting in person: voting by smart­phone. After all, they say, we do pretty much everything with mobile apps these days—from sharing videos and listening to music to shopping and banking. Why not use them to cast ballots too?

Bradley Tusk likes that idea—so much so that Tusk Philanthropies, an organization he founded, promotes and is testing the use of mobile apps for voting. The goal is to help increase voter turnout nationwide. (Only 59 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.)

“When so many Americans don’t participate in elections, we don’t see the policy changes we want,” Tusk says. “We need to make voting simpler and more accessible. And that’s where smartphones come in.”

Earlier this year, more than 1 million residents in and around Seattle, Washington, were able to use their smartphones to vote in a minor local election to help test a voting app. The system those voters used was one that Tusk Philanthropies helped fund.

Some voters reported that the process was fast and convenient. But so far, there is not enough evidence to prove that mobile-app voting increases turnout. And even supporters like Tusk admit security is a big concern when it comes to voting by mobile app.

Security is a crucial requirement for any system of voting. Citizens need to be able to trust that the votes they cast are not only counted but also remain private and can’t be tampered with. Election officials must be able to verify that every person who votes is eligible to do so, that voters are who they say they are, and that they cast only one ballot in each election. Officials also need an accurate record of every vote so they can conduct a recount, if necessary.

“No smartphone app is that reliable,” says Duncan Buell, a professor of computer science at the University of South Carolina. “No app can reliably verify a voter’s identity. Voice or face authentication can be faked. Voting via smartphone requires many layers of software and networking, from multiple companies. Hacking only one of these would compromise or corrupt an entire election.”

There is just no such thing as a bug-free, hack-proof smartphone app—at least not yet, according to cybersecurity experts. Unless and until there is, most experts agree with Buell that any possible “gain in convenience is not worth the risk.”

Consider the pros and cons of voting by mobile app. Then ask yourself: Would the ease of casting ballots by smartphone make people more likely to participate in elections? Or does the need to protect the privacy and accuracy of the voting process outweigh convenience? 

—additional reporting by Patricia Smith