Can I Vote Online? Your Voting Questions, Answered

You can use the internet to post a tweet that loses you billions of dollars, if you are Elon Musk. Or that sows doubt in the integrity of the electoral process, if you are the president of the United States. But unless you are serving overseas in the military or are a citizen abroad registered in some US states, you cannot vote from your phone, or online at all. Sorry.

The reason is simple: There’s no existing technology that can ensure your vote wouldn’t be tampered with if sent electronically over the internet or a cellular network. Voting security experts say that even the apps and websites that overseas military are permitted to use to vote are not secure. Earlier this year, a security audit of online voting platform Voatz found numerous issues. Voatz disputed the analysis, but remains sidelined for the vast majority of US voters.

Which is probably for the best. Given that elections can be prime targets for hackers and meddlers, it’s simply too risky to prioritize your convenience over electoral security. In fact, despite a good amount of progress made in recent years, voting machines that rely on the internet are potentially insecure, which is partially why experts are so enamored of the idea that we all vote the old way: on paper ballots, which can be audited and checked.