Mobile Voting
What is Mobile Voting
Mobile voting or online voting is a system of voting where people can vote directly from their mobile, anytime and from anywhere. Mobile voting is a revolution which is disrupting the traditional election systems with the power of the internet.
Key elements of mobile voting are:
- Voter can vote directly from their mobile phone: A voter need not travel to a booth to vote. A voter does not need any voting equipment. Voter's personal mobile phone is his voting equipment. The authentication of the voter happens online and without any human intervention.
- Vote from anywhere: Voter can vote from anywhere. Voting is not confined to a booth or a location.
- Vote anytime: Voter can vote anytime during the duration of the election. Voting can happen 24*7. Voter need not wait in a queue or wait for the booths to open.
- Powered by internet: Mobile voting is powered by internet. That means the voting transactions happens in real-time. The whole process of voter authentication, voting and result counting is automatic and without any human interference.
The process of mobile voting is very simple, transparent, secure, cost efficient and time efficient.
Steps in mobile voting:
- Voter gets a SMS notification with an election link.
- Voter clicks on the link which takes him to the login page of the website.
- Voter logs in using his mobile number and One Time Password (OTP) delivered to him via SMS. For critical elections, there is the option of multiple layers of authentication including Aadhaar biometric / OTP, picture capture, email OTP etc.
- The ballot page opens up with candidate names and pictures. Voter selects the candidate of his choice by touch.
- Voter then presses the DONE button. The vote is recorded, and the voter gets a confirmation message via SMS.
- Result is automatically computed and published instantly after voting closes.
Advantages of Mobile Voting
Mobile voting or online voting is much more advanced that booth-based voting as it enables voters to vote from anywhere and anytime. Mobile voting has following advantages:
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Reduces voter dropout by 90%
Many voters are not able to vote in a booth-based voting system because they are required to visit to a specific booth and vote. Segments of the population like soldiers, non-residents, transport sector workers, doctors, patients, college students studying in different city, females married in different city etc are unable to travel to the booth to vote and hence denied right to vote.
With mobile voting or online voting the voter can vote from anywhere. The whole voting process takes less than a minute unlike offline voting where voters waste hours in travelling to the booth and standing in a queue. For all these reasons with mobile voting the voter drop out rate decreases by more than 90%.
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Reduces cost of election by 90%
Any offline election is a mega event. The election officials need to set up booths across the country to enable members to be able to vote. For booths, officials need to rent buildings or spaces in prime locations to enable voters to reach and vote. These booths need to have basic facilities like electricity, security, toilets. Voter needs to be provided with voting equipment or ballot papers. The booth needs to be manned by election officials who would manually authenticate the voters before voting and also manage the crowd waiting in the queue to vote.
The booth needs security including humans and CCTVs to guard against booth capturing, false voting, duplicate voting. Security is also needed for transportation of ballot boxes and EVM machines.
Election process also require manual counting which need people and infrastructure. All this add up to lot of cost. On the other hand, in mobile voting or online voting all these are eliminated. There is no need to set up booths. Voters votes from his own mobile using his own internet and electricity. Authentication to counting is all done automatically by the system without any human intervention. This leads to huge savings in cost.
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Reduces election time requirement by 90%
Offline voting is a long process. Voting duration should be long enough to ensure that all voters get opportunity to vote. As number of booths and voting equipment are limited, voters need to wait in queue for their chance to vote.
In big elections like state and national elections the voting activity is divided over days and months as there is limitation of equipment, management and security personal.
The vote counting process is also a time consuming and manpower intensive activity. Depending on nature and size of election the counting can take days.
However, the biggest wastage of time is for the voter. A voter ends up wasting hours in travelling to the booth and standing in a queue when the total voting activity should not take more then a minute.
Online voting eliminates time wastage in travelling to booth, standing in queue, vote counting etc. The whole voting process for the voter takes less than a minute. The vote counting process is automatic and instant. The voting window is the only time required and as there is no requirement of equipment and security, the complete election can be run simultaneously. In mobile voting, each mobile phone of the voter is his exclusive booth. Election in a nation like India can be completed in 24 hours which generally takes more 3 months in offline mode.
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Reduces manpower requirement by 90%
In booth based offline voting a large army of personnel is required for booth management, security, logistics, counting. On an average one booth require around 5 to 10 personnel. For a national election with 12 lakh booths the number of personnel require can be as big as 10 million. To put things in perspective, many countries in the world do not have population of 10 million.
Mobile voting or online voting does not require large army of personnel as there is no requirement of setting up booths across the country. The same is true for smaller elections like housing society election or an association election. The whole election process starting with intimation to voters, authentication of voter, voting activity and result counting is automated and does not require any human intervention. Small elections can be managed by a single person and bigger elections require handful of personnel
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10x better security due to Aadhaar and Encryption
In booth based voting or offline voting, verification of voters happens by physical matching of voter face with the photograph on the ID card. This verification process is very elementary and susceptible to errors and frauds. The quality of photographs on the ID cards are generally not good and pictures in most cases are very old. Due to this false voting and duplicate voting is very common in offline voting.
On the other hand, in case of online voting or mobile voting the voter authentication process is completely automatic and not susceptible to human errors. There are multiple layers of authentication process depending on the level of security needed in an election. Right2Vote has built several proprietary and non-proprietary security layers to ensure 100% full proof authentication and security. These include encryption, OTP based authentication, voter picture capture, location capture, geo fencing etc.
Right2Vote has also introduced Aadhaar based biometric (fingerprint and Iris) authentication of voters which is superior to any other voter authentication system in the world. This has been possible because of very high-quality biometric data base created by government of India of all its citizens.
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10x better stakeholder engagement
Offline voting is such a tedious, costly, time consuming and human resource requiring activity that it can be used very rarely. It is not practically possible to set up booths across the country everyday for collecting opinion of the citizens / members.
On the other hand, online voting or mobile voting requires very limited cost, time and effort and can be initiated at a very short notice. It can be used as frequently as required without impacting the regular functioning of the organization.
Hence, once an organization is introduced to online voting technology, they introduce the voting system in all its activity where stakeholder engagement is required. A company might first introduce the online voting technology for shareholder voting but then it also extends the facility to creditors, vendors, customers, employees and other stakeholders. Companies use it regularly in board meetings, employee surveys, customer feedback etc. Incidence of an organization using the voting system increase by more than 10 times due to efficiency and effectiveness of mobile voting / online voting.
Types of Voting
Booth voting
Booth voting is a type of voting where people cast their vote in-room or cabin. Voters are allowed to cast their votes in private to protect the secrecy of the ballot and to ensure a fair election process.
Generally, voting machines are used in the voting booths or some other form of privacy cover to obscure voters from the view of others.
ePostal ballot
ePostal ballot voting is a type of voting used in an election where ballot papers are distributed to voters with the help of email. The voter downloads the ballot paper, prints it, marks his vote and again sends it via email.
In an election system, the ePostal ballot system may be used on-demand or limited to individuals meeting certain criteria, such as a proven inability to travel to a designated polling place.
Mobile voting
As the name says it all, mobile voting is a type of voting system where voters can cast their vote either at home or at an institution in which they reside with a mobile. Such type of voting can help increase the accessibility of the vote for groups that would otherwise be unable to vote, maintaining the secrecy of the vote and ensuring that votes are cast without any coercion.
Postal ballot
Postal Ballot is a type of voting system in which ballot papers are distributed to registered voters by post instead of people coming to the polling booth or station directly to vote. These ballot papers are returned in the post or handed to a person in the elections office or at a polling station after marking the vote.
Proxy voting
A proxy voting is a type of voting system in which someone else cast a vote on the voter's behalf. A person who is designated to vote is called a “proxy” and the person who delegates his voting authority to another is called a principal. Proxy voting is a common practice seen in large corporates and companies, especially in India as well as the United States.
Electronic voting
Electronic voting or e-voting leverages electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting votes. Generally, e-voting may use standalone electronic voting machines ( EVM) or computers connected to the Internet.
It also uses a range of internet services including the transmission of tabulated results to full-function online voting through common connectable household devices.
Internet voting
As the name suggests, internet voting is a system that allows voters to cast their vote with the help of a website or a mobile application. Internet voting systems protect the integrity of your vote by preventing voters from being able to vote multiple times. Moreover, they eliminate the need to gather in-person, cast votes using paper, or by any other means.
Remote voting
Remote voting is a kind of voting where the voter can vote remotely and need not visit the booth to vote. Postal voting is a type of remote voting. ePostal ballot option provided to members of armed forces in Indian elections is also a type of remote voting. Email type voting is also a kind of remote voting
However, generally remote voting term is used for internet-based voting methods where the voter can vote remotely. Paper voting at booth, EVM voting at booth or even internet-based voting at booth is not remote voting.
Mobile voting
Mobile voting can broadly be defined as a type of voting in which voters cast their vote using a mobile application. Such type of voting can help increase the accessibility of the vote for groups that would otherwise be unable to vote or travel to the voting booth.
