Positive but skeptical : A study of attitudes towards Internet voting in Sweden

Abstract

This study explored the attitudes of a broad sample of politically interested Swedish voters towards Internet voting. A total of 5683 participants completed a web-based survey concerning participation and security aspects of Internet voting. Attitudes towards Internet voting were positive on the whole and the acceptance of participation in democratic elections using Internet voting was spearheaded by: women, groups with relatively short education, the unemployed and the self-employed. Unlike previous studies, it was found that age was not a significant factor in determining the attitudes towards participation in elections by means of Internet voting. Concerning the security challenges of Internet voting, men were more optimistic than women and participants' confidence in security increased with age and education length.