It feels like online voting is the future of democracy, but Canada isn’t ready for it.
This November, Anchorage, Alaska, became one of the first North American cities to offer online mobile voting for all residents. Instead of lining up at polling stations or mailing in a ballot, some Alaskans will soon be able to cast their vote through a secure portal on their phone.
Online voting appears to be a promising solution to the issues currently facing Western democracies, including low turnout and political apathy. For students, it looks even better. Many of us move between ridings, go on exchange, or juggle busy schedules during elections. A system that lets you skip the line and vote from your phone sounds like a no-brainer.
As a Political Studies student and a dual citizen of Australia and Canada, I’m well-versed in mail-in voting. This April, I voted in both federal elections; for one, I lined up for hours, and for the other, I waited weeks for my ballot to arrive by mail, hoping it would be received in time. Clearly, online voting would be a far easier alternative.
This made me wonder if we’ll ever see widespread online voting options in Canada, and if now is the right time to take democracy online. In an era of online misinformation, increasing polarization and now may not be the time for widespread electoral changes.
I’ve heard several excuses for students not voting: that people didn’t know how or where to vote, were too busy to go to the polling station, or just couldn’t be bothered. When non-voters were asked why they didn’t vote in the 2015 federal election, 48 per cent of respondents stated that ‘everyday life issues’ were their reason. Coming from Australia, where voting is compulsory, I believe the more accessible we make political participation, the stronger our democracy becomes.
In 2023, the Canadian government conducted an inquiry into online voting. A key recommendation was that Elections Canada should “actively research and trial online voting in federal elections and lay the groundwork for possible future development.”
Voting online has the potential to expand voting access significantly. Many groups can benefit from greater accessibility; the 2023 inquiry lists “persons with disabilities, citizens living overseas or military abroad, members of Indigenous communities, persons living in remote areas, incarcerated electors, seniors with mobility issues or those living in long-term care facilities, and students away at school.”. Online voting could reduce the barriers these individuals face to participating in democracy.
Rural and indigenous communities would have the most to gain from online voting services. In 2021, McMaster and Brock universities, in collaboration with Indigenous communities, released a report revealing that online voting is appealing to First Nations people “as a way to enhance participation, self-determination and governance”. It has the potential to “bridge the participatory gap” among off-reserve community members. However, this is dependent on these communities having adequate internet access infrastructure and devices; there’s still a digital divide that needs to be corrected.
But there are real risks associated with taking electoral systems online. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security reports that “the proportion of elections targeted by cyber-threat activity relative to the total number of national elections globally has increased from 10 per cent in 2015 to 26 per cent in 2022.”. Introducing mobile voting would mean more devices and increased potential for attacks.
In an era of widespread disinformation, electoral distrust is on the rise. A recent survey of Canadian public opinion found that while most Canadians trust the system, confidence is uneven, suggesting some concern. A report on trust in Canadian democracy from the DIAS found that “Those with lower levels of trust in democracy and elections in Canada are more likely to be under the age of 45, have lower incomes, identify on the right end of the political spectrum, or say they are less satisfied in life.”
Seeing the accessibility obstacles facing voters, entrepreneurs have created platforms that promise to enhance democratic engagement and strengthen security. The Anchorage government is using one of them, called Democracy Live, to deploy its online voting scheme. Democracy Live is a U.S.-based company that provides remote balloting and election services. They’re also receiving funding from both the Department of Defense and the U.S. State Department. Another emerging online voting entrepreneur is Bradley Tusk, the founder of Mobile Voting, a company that has unveiled a VoteSecure toolkit to support mobile voting.
While there’s no lack of entrepreneurs seeking to advance online voting, the idea of democracy depending on a private company raises real concerns. The public may rightly question who controls the software, whether it’s secure, and what the organization’s political motivation might be. These doubts can settle quickly in voters’ minds, creating conditions for conspiracy theories to grow and for democratic engagement to backslide.
Other barriers to rolling out online voting remain substantial. The 2023 government report has identified these as; a lack of digital literacy among some voters meaning accessibility isn’t universal; maintaining ballot secrecy becomes harder when votes are cast on personal devices; the risk of fraud or coercion rises when voters are remote; and we risk losing the social value and community built into the in-person election experience, where communities reinforce civic identity.
Security and conspiracy risks aside, Canada doesn’t have the resources in place yet to roll out online voting effectively on a local level, let alone federal. Currently, each province must create its own standards for administering the election, something which they do not have the resources for and are not prepared to do. Without standards and proper systems, there’s a risk of error, such as in Thunder Bay, Ontario, when an online error affected two wards.
Yet some communities have gone ahead with trials despite the risks. In 2019, the Northwest Territories rolled out the first widely accessible online voting in Canada, with Yukon following in 2022, then facing debate in 2024 at the municipal elections. Subsequently, in August 2025, the council of Orillia rejected online voting due to security concerns.
If local councils and school boards, who run simpler and smaller elections, aren’t confident they can secure an online voting system, it’s hard to imagine a nationwide rollout.
We should continue to test and develop the technology and support municipal and provincial governments as they build the frameworks needed for future use. For now, our focus should be on using online voting in targeted ways—particularly to support rural and remote Indigenous communities, and people with disabilities, who already face significant barriers to participation.
But this isn’t the moment for widespread implementation. The risks are simply too high, especially in an unstable political and media climate marked by misinformation.
It seems to me that, for now, most of us will still have the pleasure of participating in our democratic process the old-fashioned way: with pen and paper.
Alex McDonald is a fourth-year politics, philosophy, and economics student
Tags
Australia, Canada, democracy, democratic reform, Voting
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