Electronic Voting: Accelerate Efforts for Wider Adoption by Building Track Record of Successful Use

Electronic voting systems aim to simplify voting and ballot counting tasks by streamlining procedures, an area regaining focus for local elections. To encourage adoption, it's crucial to establish a record of successful usage while ensuring election fairness. In the Kagawa gubernatorial election, Zentsuji city will pilot an electronic voting system for the first time, as will Kasuya in Fukuoka Prefecture for their mayoral race.

Both are utilizing the system for early voting. The system functions by voters casting ballots on tablet screens, which eliminates the need for paper ballots, potentially speeding up the process and reducing personnel requirements. To thwart fraud, the system is disconnected from communication networks. Unlike online voting, electronic voting occurs under supervision.

The declining number of local government employees makes it essential to reduce their workload and maintain election systems. Electronic voting also has the potential to discard questionable or invalid ballots. This system became viable for local elections in 2002 with a new law. Since then, numerous municipalities have adopted it, but equipment failures in 2003's Kani city assembly election in Gifu Prefecture and a subsequent Supreme Court ruling in 2005 led to a decline in interest.

Recently, eight years after its last use, electronic voting was employed in Japan for the first time in 2024, including the Shijonawate mayoral election in Osaka Prefecture, with no significant issues reported. To promote electronic voting, local governments should offer thorough training and trial voting sessions to alleviate anxiety for those unfamiliar with digital devices, and emphasize the benefits of faster voting times to boost voter turnout.