Thinking Outside of the Ballot Box: Examining Public Trust in E-Voting Technology

Electronic voting, or e-voting, is a relatively closed process that contains inherent risks associated with the potential for voting irregularities, translation errors, and inappropriate manipulation (Oravec, 2005). To develop a greater understanding of trust issues surrounding the use of e-voting, an investigation into the public trust and the relationship between trust and electronic voting technology were assessed. Men and women of various ethnicities, ages, educational backgrounds, technological experiences, political affiliations, and prior experience with e-voting participated in this study. Rogers’ (1995) taxonomy of adopters—innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards—was used to classify individuals based on their willingness to participate in e-voting. A principle-components factor analysis (PCFA) with separate tests for discriminant validity and multiple-regression analyses were used to confirm the hypotheses. The findings suggest that innovators and early adopters are more likely to trust technology and express an intention to use an e-voting system.