New e-voting insights were shared with the City of Hamilton by Brock University students through a Canadian Politics in the Digital Age course where they looked into the use of voting technology in future municipal elections — helping students gain hands-on experience with innovations that could transform democratic participation and transparency.
Though a partnership with the City of Hamilton and voting technology firm Neuvote, students participated in mock elections and then analyzed security and privacy, voter use and participation, election experience, accessibility and election evaluation. They received training sessions with the City of Hamilton, Neuvote and other experts, including a software engineer and a municipal administrator from the City of Markham, where verifiable online voting was implemented in 2022.
By considering the local context and community needs, students developed recommendations that were both innovative and practical for the City of Hamilton. With elections becoming increasingly digital, this hands-on learning opportunity not only allowed students to benefit from the real-world experience of election evaluation, but it also helped the local community benefit from the knowledge generated to ensure online voting systems are secure, transparent and trustworthy.
For more information, visit Brock University.
