Identifying Factors Studied for Voter Trust in E-Voting – Review of Literature

David Duenas Cid; Yannick Erb; Melanie Volkamer

doi:https://doi.org/10.18420/e-vote-id2023_05

Identifying Factors Studied for Voter Trust in E-Voting – Review of Literature

Abstract

Trust is a precondition for the adoption of novel technologies (see, e.g., [ES21]). As more and more electoral commissions consider introducing e-voting solutions, research into voter trust in these systems grows in importance. As a basis for future research on trust in e-voting, we conducted a literature review. We identified 13 papers researching various factors influencing voters’ trust in e-voting. In these papers, we determined a total of 64 potential factors, while the direction of their influence on voter trust may be either positive, negative, or both (positive/negative). These factors were subsequently systemized into five categories, ranging from socio-political to technology-related factors. These are then described and discussed. We also find shortcomings in the current empirical research on voter trust and propose directions for future research in order to address these.