A commission of the Liberal Party Coalition of the Australian Parliament is planning to adopt electronic voting for their decision making.
According to a report divulged by a group of Members of Parliament, the Australian Parliament should modernize to follow the trend of other institutions such as the United States congress.
E-voting in Parliament would reflect the diversity of opinions in a more transparent fashion, particularly by displaying results in real time on a screen or panel visible inside the building, which shows how its members are voting.
In their statement, these MP highlighted that e-voting would also help save time. In 2015, 2% of the time spent in parliamentary sessions was used for voting, and most of it was spent counting the votes; this is an area that could use more efficiency.
Facing this change, a series of rules to follow were issued; for instance, votes must take place inside the Chamber of Parliament and the tradition of raising hands for voting will be maintained.
In the following months, the government will investigate which technology model is best adapted to the Parliament’s needs.
Organizations and political figures have promoted the use of e-voting, in sight of the advantages it offers in terms of reliability, speed and security for voting and the delivery of electoral results.
Source: The Guardian