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I love Election Day. And given that we are a business of the online world, I thought it would be interesting to post the recurring question many have during election time -- "When will we be able to cast our votes online?"

We do our banking, shopping and bill paying online. Why can't we vote online?

I personally have always wondered if voter turnout would improve if people had an online voting option. But there are still many challenges to overcome before online voting is a reality:

-- the ability of "malicious actors" to disrupt or hack into servers

-- voting is simultaneously supposed to be anonymous and verified that it was legitimately cast only once by a person who had the right to do it.


Most security experts say internet voting is too venerable to corruption and disruption.

Super interesting read from Mashable on Election Day:

Why Can't You Vote Online

I agree that fear of manipulation is the reason we are not voting online. All it takes is one"votergate" type situation and people will lose faith in the election results.

We tend to forget that there are, and probably always will be, many people who don't use computers and are not online. Aside from the hacking vulnerabilities, online voting would favor some demographics and would certainly affect results.

Voting should be like american idol. We would have record turn outs and then a 2 hour long show to announce the winner in the last 40 seconds

And you all know how I love the internet, but I dig the old school voting method. There is something very empowering about gathering with all sorts of people from your community to all go do something so important. It's patriotic. It's valuable. And as Bob Schieffer's mom said, "It makes you feel big and strong."

It does make me feel big and strong, Renee. I miss the lever machines we used to have.

Even if on and offline voting were available, it would still make it much easier for some demographics to vote. This would result in a higher turnout for them, of course, and affect election results. The difference in the ease of voting for some is already a problem.

Renee, I have been wondering about this for years. This is one of the most exciting and scary things to image. On one hand you have the technology to support a true democracy. Image if every citizen could vote on legislation without having to use a representative system that is beyond corrupt. But, to trade that for the possibility of hacking and manipulation... I don't know?

I do know that Iceland citizens recently rewote their county's constitution with the use of an online forum and social media. A crowd-sourced government... imagine that. :)

A huge plus in favor of online voting is the elimination of "hanging chads"

As long as the epidemic of online identity theft exists, unfortunately this isn't an option. Which stinks, because I hate getting out of my pajamas.

Text "Barack" or "Mitt" to 5701 to cast your vote!