Abstract

The article aims to analyze the main characteristics of e-voting and its worldwide diffusion. After suggesting a new classification scheme for different e-voting systems, the author develops an original proposal for measuring the degree of digitization of the main stages of the electoral cycle (i.e., collecting/compiling, casting, counting) that allows a comparison, in terms of technological progress, between different states or between groups of countries aggregated by level of economic development or democratic quality. As is discussed in the second part of the article, it is not only democracies that are now investing in the field of e-enabled elections. In fact, in recent years even authoritarian regimes have introduced technological innovations in the electoral process with the aim of strengthening their power. Finally, in the last part of the article, survey data are analyzed to investigate Italians’ attitudes toward online voting, considered by many as a possible remedy to declining voter turnout.