Am 06.12.23 um 18 Uhr s.t. in Raum GFG 01-611 ist Professor Felix-Christopher von Nostitz (Lille) zu Gast im Institutskolloquium. Alle Institutsmitglieder (und insbesondere auch die Studierenden) sind herzlich eingeladen!
Digitalising Democracy: Who wants to use i-voting and why?
Since the early 2000s, internet voting (i-voting) has become one of the main tools in the digitalisation process of democracy. Several countries, such as Estonia or Switzerland, have been using i-voting over the past twenty years. But there is still limited research that examines citizens' expectations towards the use of technology in the electoral process, particularly in countries that have not yet introduced online voting.
The aim of this talk is to help fill this gap. By studying the opinions of citizens about online voting, we question existing preconceptions about their propensity to accept such a voting system. We develop our empirical analysis by focusing on a case study, France. Based on a post-electoral survey we show that French citizens are broadly in favour of the introduction of online voting. The rejection of such a system is above all related to political reasons and the non-positioning on the issue reflects the social divide traditionally observed in electoral and online political participation. Secondly, we show that different groups stand out, depending on the arguments they use to support or oppose the introduction of online voting.
Who is our guest?
Felix-Christopher von Nostitz earned his Ph.D. from the University of Exeter in 2017. He presently is an Associate Professor at ESPOL - European School of Political and Social Sciences, Université catholique de Lille. His current research interests are on political participation, parties and elections in the digital age. He is part of the Steering Committee of the Digital Parties Research Network. He was and is involved in various research projects on elections, voters and the digital transformation of politics and society, such as the H2020 projects ActEU and RECONNECT, People2022, Comparative Candidate survey project and “Smart Lille” exploring citizens perceptions of smart cities. He recently published in Revue Française de Science Politique, Comparative Migration Studies and Party Politics.