Information technology improves most of the democratic voting processes

Voting is the basis of democratic systems. Information technology has offered significant advantages and facilities to improve the quality of many social interactions and economical activities within modern societies. But the potential of IT to help change the voting process has not yet been fulfilled The paper analyses the voting process and identifies how information technology may improve the quality, security, efficiency, and reduce the cost as well. The approach is based on the use of voting smart cards and the Internet. A vote may be seen as a dedicated service on the Internet, not so different from some models of transactions that may be used for electronic commerce. Although there are many possibilities according to the tradition, the political issues, and some local habits, an example of a protocol is proposed that summarises the main concepts of flexibility, security, low cost and compatibility with most of the existing Internet infrastructure and equipment