Electronic voting presents numerous advantages over traditional paper ballot voting. In the initial stage there will of course be significant costs for planning, introduction and equipment. But in the long run and with a widespread introduction, the electronic voting system will lead to many cost savings.
The advantages of an electronic voting system can be divided into advantages for the voters and advantages for the authorities.
Electronic voting speeds up the voting process, especially where advance voting is concerned. After voting in the polling booth, voters no longer have to go to the election official to have their ballots stamped and wait until the election official has made an entry in the voting register to record that they have voted. Similarly, when voting on election day, voters no longer have to wait for their ballots to be stamped or drop them into the ballot box.
Electronic voting will also increase the security and reliability of elections. An electronic vote is transported safely, reliably and fast into the centralized electronic ballot box. When electronic voting has been introduced on a wider scale to cover the whole country, it may be possible vote at any polling station, regardless of domicile, even on election day.
Further, in electronic voting it is not possible to make voting errors by mistake, because the identification information of the chosen candidate will appear on the screen before the vote is confirmed.
Another advantage for the voter is that there is no ambiguity in interpreting an electronic vote. When traditional paper ballots are used, unclear numbers may sometimes cause problems.
Electronic voting reduces and simplifies the work of the authorities significantly. Electronic voting leads to notable cost savings through reduced personnel, especially in the advance voting. For instance the following functions are no longer needed in electronic voting:
Electronic voting will deliver also other cost savings. For example various envelopes, forms and documents are no longer needed.
Electronic votes can be counted fast and reliably, and the result of the vote will be ready almost immediately.