Student Video Asks: "Should We Trust Internet Voting?"

[Screenshot image courtesy of Kyle Dhillon via YouTube]

Over the weekend, I received a link to a new Youtube video by Princeton undergraduate Kyle Dhillon, who created a 4-minute presentation on the topic of Internet voting as part of his coursework in a class taught by Princeton’s Andrew Appel.[UPDATE: He also produced a paper, which is available here.]

Kyle starts out by saying how much he dislikes standing in line to vote – he waited over two hours in the last election – and so he was interested in the feasibility of casting votes over the Internet. After reading the literature and talking to experts, however, he concluded that the current threats to the process are so great that we are not yet at the point where Internet voting is ready for use in American elections.

The video is notable on several fronts. First, it is substantively rich, with lots of content presented in a short amount of time. Second, it is remarkably straightforward and accessible – making a complex subject clear without oversimplification. Finally (and most importantly in my view) it represents the latest example of the power of involving students in the field of elections because of their enthusiasm and passion for the subject.

I highly recommend taking a look at this video; most if not all of you (like me) will undoubtedly learn something new. Thanks to Professor Appel for sharing it and congratulations to Kyle Dhillon for such a great piece of work!