Abstract
Since the 2016 American election, issues of cyber-security have been at the forefront of public debate on electoral integrity. Issues of disinformation, fake news, voter privacy, and database hacking have been of top interest to policymakers, scholars and the public alike. One key theme that underlines this debate is how the use of new technologies impact the perceptions of voters and their trust in the electoral process. Even if elections are made secure from hacking and manipulation, just the perception of this threat as prevalent will impact voters’ confidence in elections and democracy more generally.
This paper responds to the question: How does the use of electoral technology at the voting booth impact voters’ trust in the electoral process? This project focuses in on the use of voting machines at polling places, one of the most basic and well-known forms of technology used in elections. While election administrators use technology throughout the electoral cycle, for everything from voter registration to announcing the results, the voter most intimately experience the use of technology in elections through their experience at the ballot box, with the use of direct recording electronic voting mechanisms, optical scanning machines or other forms of e-voting technology.
This paper seeks to provide additional evidence on the impact of these technologies on voter trust, by considering the use of technology in in-person voting in the United States. The American experience is particularly useful to study since the technology used at the polls varies widely between American counties, due to a de-centralized system of election administration. Taking advantage of the differences in electoral technology used between and within state, this paper considers the impact of voting technology on citizen trust in American elections in the 2014 and 2016 American elections. It considers the predictors of public survey responses on trust in elections. It tests whether there is a relationship between the technology used and voter confidence in their vote and concerns about hacking. The results speak to current debates about the use of technology in elections and their influence on public trust.