Alaska Experiments With Voting by Smartphone

Anchorage, Alaska, is about to launch an experiment that could reshape how Americans vote: letting residents cast ballots via smartphone. Starting with the city's April municipal election, the pilot program will give Anchorage's 240,000 registered voters the option to vote by phone, though traditional mail and in-person methods remain available, the New York Times reports While this trial covers only local races, its outcome could influence future elections nationwide.

• Alaska's unique challenges—harsh weather, remote communities, and a highly mobile population—have prompted officials to look for ways to make voting easier and more reliable. "We've been trying to make it even easier for them to vote and make it so you don't really have an excuse not to vote anymore," says Anchorage election administrator Liz Edwards.
• The city is using the Mobile Voting Project platform, an open-source system funded by venture capitalist Bradley Tusk. Supporters argue that mobile voting could boost turnout, especially in low-profile elections where participation is often dismal. Tusk contends that low turnout fuels political dysfunction and polarization.
• Skeptics, however, question the timing and security of phone-based voting, especially given the current climate of mistrust and conspiracy theories around elections. David Becker, who heads the Center for Election Innovation and Research, warns that digital voting could give fuel to election deniers. "I can't imagine a worse time in American history to be rolling it out," Becker tells the Times.

Anchorage's system attempts to address these concerns by requiring voter identification, providing unique voting links, and creating a paper backup for each digital vote—paper ballots, not digital tallies, will be used for the official count. The experiment comes as internet voting remains rare globally, with Estonia as the only country allowing all citizens to vote online in national and local elections. Even there, turnout is not dramatically higher, though local participation exceeds that in the US.