Democracy in the digital age: the future of elections is through electronic voting
In a digital-first world, electronic and online voting are transforming how organizations—across the U.S. and Europe—manage governance, elections, and participation. Whether you’re a cooperative, nonprofit, public body, or corporation, adopting secure and compliant voting technology can lead to significant gains in efficiency, inclusivity, and transparency.
What is electronic voting, what types exist, and in what areas is it used?
By definition, electronic voting, also known as e-voting, is electoral voting cast through electronic and computer technologies.
This generic definition declines depending on the technology used into macro types of electronic voting and depending on the mode:
- i-voting, refers to the use of the Internet to cast and/or transmit votes;
- direct-recording electronics (DRE) voting machine, the voter votes by pressing a button or through a touch screen that displays the ballot;
- voter-verified paper audit trail, a paper ballot is printed for each vote by the device so that voters can verify that their vote was cast correctly;
- optical scan voting systems, optical scan voting systems that combine paper with electronic devices and maintain a tangible ballot. (Source: aceproject)
In the private sector, voting via the Internet is now accepted and provided for in current regulations; in Europe, for example, the EC already came out in favor of electronic voting for private companies in 2007.
While political elections remain complex, in non-governmental and corporate settings, electronic voting is rapidly gaining trust and adoption.
In the political arena, that of online voting has been an open issue for many years now and returns to the forefront with each election round. It is of particular interest to all out-of-towners, who, with the introduction of electronic voting, would see their active participation in the democratic life of their country made easier, and not by a small margin.
Legal Framework in Europe
In Europe, electronic voting for non-political purposes (such as assemblies, board elections, or internal consultations) must comply with GDPR and national corporate governance laws. Platforms like Eligo follow privacy-by-design principles, strong encryption standards, and offer complete traceability without compromising anonymity.
Legal Framework in the United States
In the U.S., electronic voting is governed at the state and organizational level. Corporate bylaws, nonprofit statutes, and regulations like those from the Department of Labor (for union elections) define the scope of lawful digital voting. Eligo is designed to comply with these frameworks by offering flexible setup, secure authentication, and transparent audit trails.
Security and legality of electronic voting
Electronic voting is definitely a tool that can make elections faster and cheaper while motivating citizens to greater participation in democratic life.
In the past, however, there have been incidents that have cast doubt on the efficiency and security of the electronic voting system; in fact, Italy is not the first country to start a simulation with this voting mode.
Several governments have explored the use of electronic voting, with some suspending trials due to cybersecurity concerns. These cases underline the importance of choosing platforms with advanced encryption and full auditability—especially in private-sector or internal institutional use.
How online voting works with Eligo
Online voting with Eligo is designed to meet both legal and operational requirements. Eligible voters access a secure, personalized area using credentials and optional OTP (One-Time Password). Votes are encrypted, anonymized, and instantly recorded in a digital ballot box. All phases—from voter registration to results reporting—are managed via a unified, GDPR- and SOC2-ready platform.
Online voting: a trend destined for private realities as well
The online voting trend, however, is not limited to political voting, but also concerns-as mentioned at the beginning of this article-an increasing number of private entities, which have recognized the great advantages of electronic voting, especially in terms of savings and participation.
In a world where almost everything now goes digital, why should the voting process remain stationary with pen and paper?
Take the case of a company: the adoption of electronic voting not only gives a strong signal of innovation to employees and stakeholders, but also allows all employees to participate in voting from any location or even while away. The centralized management of each vote also provides significant savings in both time and money, representing a great plus especially for larger and more structured companies.
The inclusion of all members in decision-making is also a must for entities such as Associations and Cooperatives, which recognize electronic voting as a way to boost engagement and increase electoral participation in a simple, fast and transparent way.
While electronic voting is a valuable tool for optimizing management time and saving on election costs, the online voting system must ensure efficiency, privacy, security, and comply with current regulations.
- A user-friendly platform incentivizes participation. One of the basic requirements that must characterize the platform deputed to electronic voting is to be fully responsive: the more intuitive and user-friendly the online voting system is, the more likely it is to increase member participation in elections and meetings.
- Anonymity and integrity of electronic voting. As with any democratic process, online voting must ensure that votes are personal, equal, free, and secret.
- Security of online voting. It is also essential to rely on an online voting platform that provides constant monitoring of the security and stability of the system to ensure the protection of voter data and circumscribe possible external tampering with the results.
- Online Voting Privacy and GDPR Compliance. Apart from the IT security ensured by the electronic voting system, it is crucial to ensure proper formal and operational data management. In addition to complying with all of the GDPR’s own principles on data management (more on Privacy) there must be an appointment of external data controllers. In addition, first- and second-level privacy notices must be available to the data subject (voter) and it must be clearly specified whether the data provided by the voter will be used only for electronic voting or other purposes.
What Eligo can do for online voting
Eligo is the certified and professional online voting platform created to improve and simplify the electoral life of any entity, be it a company, association or cooperative.
The versatility of the platform allows it to handle all types of electronic voting – online, at the polling station or hybrid – and offer the best solution for all organizations, meeting the specific needs of all clients (learn more about Eligo – Voting).
The user friendly and responsive interface ensures high turnout for each reality as every voter can express his or her preference conveniently via pc, tablet or smartphone and allows for optimized management time and polling.
Eligo also offers free consultancy for election commission assistance, giving all clients the opportunity to seek support from specialists who have always handled online voting professionally.
Preserving anonymity and ensuring the uniqueness of electronic voting is, as we saw in the previous section, another key feature of online voting platforms. It is precisely for this reason that Eligo separates the voter-vote information altogether (Privacy and Cloud): the fact that a user has voted is associated with the credentials entered, while the voting expression is sent, anonymously and encrypted, to the ballot box.
In addition, the adoption of the highest standards of cybersecurity (Legality) and encryption certifies the security of the electronic vote cast (Security).
A guarantee, that of Eligo, given both by the technical characteristics of the platform and the established procedures adopted by our specialists.
Eligo offers the right balance of simplicity, security, and legal validity in one platform, and allows users to choose the identification and voting process that best suits the specific needs of each entity.
Whether your organization is based in New York or London, Eligo offers localized compliance and international best practices for secure, inclusive, and effective online voting.