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Sit back and vote: Online voting works

We already do so much on our devices, why not vote too?

US NEWS CAMPAIGN 5 CS
"I Voted" stickers line a voting machine inside Hand Middle School in Columbia, South Carolina, during the Republican presidential primary, Saturday, January 21, 2012. Voters were greeted with rain and clouds as they cast their vote to choose a GOP presidential nominee in the Palmetto State. (Gerry Melendez/The State/MCT)

Last night, Arizona was plagued with long lines at polling stations all because 70 percent of polling stations from previous elections were eliminated.

If a state is going to propose such a cut, then the voters need to be included some other way rather than funneling them all into a few spots across the state.

The state of Utah incorporated online voting for the first time last night during its GOP caucus and besides the occasional glitch, the experiment was successful.

This is what more states should be doing in order to get more people to vote, especially millennials.

We already do so much on the Internet and on our smart devices, so why not sit back and turn the TV on while you vote on your laptop or phone?

All that is needed is a government contracted encrypted website and server. That way people can enter their voter registration number, social security and date of birth in order to confirm their citizenship and identification.

The same is already done for other government programs such as healthcare.gov and state voter registration sites.

Online voting would open the door to record voter turnout numbers, appealing to younger voters by allowing them to simply get on their computers or mobile devices and vote.

Several thousand voters were turned away from polling places because they arrived either too late or because they didn't want to wait in the long lines.

Online voting eliminates that problem and even allows working citizens to vote from their workplace if they have access to a computer or a smart phone.

Results could be counted quicker allowing a bigger window of time for voters to get their choices in that day.

This would also eliminate many other problems concerning racial bias or issues preventing voters from getting to polling places.

Even if some voters don’t have access to a phone, computer or even the Internet, some polling stations would still be open to allow voting the "old fashioned" way.

If the rest of the world is changing then our election system should be able to change with it.

Related links:

You need to vote — and not just for president

Strict voting laws are unconstitutional, hide behind a myth of 'voter fraud'


Reach the columnist at abundy@asu.edu or follow @abkbundy on Twitter.

Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.

Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.

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