NEXT: Voting from Smartphones?

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 25 (UPI) —
Electronic voting based on smartphones could be incorporated into the current large-scale election process and lead to fewer errors, U.S. researchers say.

They’ve designed a mobile voting system optimized for use on a smartphone and tested its usability against traditional voting platforms, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society reported Tuesday.

While many U.S. counties have incorporated electronic voting technology, largely in response to challenges related to older mechanical and punch-card models, they present a new set of issues for voters unfamiliar with the technology, the researchers said.

In the study the researches asked 84 participants with a diverse range of voting histories and educational backgrounds to engage in a series of mock elections using different voting methods.

While the efficiency and perceived usability was the same for the smartphone-based system and other voting methods, smartphone owners committed fewer errors on the mobile voting system than on the traditional voting systems, the researchers found.

However, he acknowledged, such a system would require solving a substantial number of serious security and authentication problems.