Trusting e-voting amid experiences of electoral malpractice: The case of Indian elections

This article constructs explanatory theory on trust in e-voting, a term that refers to the use of stand-alone IT artefacts in voting stations. We study e-voting as a techno-organisational arrangement embedded in the process of elections and the broader socio-economic context of a country. Following...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of information technology 2019-09, Vol.34 (3), p.263-289
Main Authors: Avgerou, Chrisanthi, Masiero, Silvia, Poulymenakou, Angeliki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case depth
Cultivation
Democracy
Developing countries
Economic development
Election results
Elections
Electronic voting systems
Feasibility studies
Illiteracy
Information systems
Information technology
LDCs
Local elections
Logistics
Malpractice
Management science
Online voting
Public opinion
Realism
Referendums
Trust
Voter fraud
Voting machines
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Summary:This article constructs explanatory theory on trust in e-voting, a term that refers to the use of stand-alone IT artefacts in voting stations. We study e-voting as a techno-organisational arrangement embedded in the process of elections and the broader socio-economic context of a country. Following a critical realist approach, we apply retroduction and retrodiction principles to build theory by complementing existing studies of e-voting with insights from an in-depth case study of elections in India. First, we seek evidence of trust in e-voting in the responses of the public to the announcement of election results. Then we derive the following four mechanisms of trust creation or loss: the association of e-voting with the production of positive democratic effects; the making of e-voting part of the mission and identity of electoral authorities; the cultivation of a positive public attitude to IT with policies for IT-driven socio-economic development; and, in countries with turbulent political cultures, a clear distinction between the experience of voting as orderly and experiences of malpractice in other election tasks. We suggest that these mechanisms explain the different experience with e-voting of different countries. Attention to them helps in assessing the potential of electoral technologies in countries that are currently adopting them, especially fragile democracies embarking upon e-voting.
ISSN:0268-3962
1466-4437
DOI:10.1177/0268396218816199