Lost in all the hullabaloo about Super Tuesday, then the Potomac Primary, and now “Mini Tuesday” on March 4, is the extraordinary experiment in online voting conducted by Democrats Abroad. Although the voting took place from February 5 to February 12, the organization just recently reported the results, and they were impressive.

For the first time ever, Democrats Abroad devised a system through which Democrats living overseas and who were members or became members of Democrats Abroad could vote via the Internet as well as by fax, by regular mail, and at “drop in voting centers” (voters could also opt to vote by absentee ballot in their home state, but could not do both). Although there are no numbers from past Democrats Abroad contests to compare this vote’s results with, the turnout, especially the number of Americans choosing the Internet option, was notable.

Democrats Abroad as an organization boosted its own ranks: membership doubled in the two weeks before the primary. According to the organization’s own tallies, over 23,000 voters participated, and just about half of those voted online. In fact, virtually no one used the fax or regular mail. It was almost entirely voters participating in person at a vote center (which in some cases was a local pub) and online, and the split between the two was just about even in countries throughout the world.

However, there were some places, locations too remote to have vote centers, where the Internet was the only way in which voters took part. This was particularly true throughout Africa and some parts of the Middle East. Granted, in some of these places, just a handful of votes were cast, but that may be a handful more than would have otherwise.

Democrats Abroad also likely helped themselves ahead of time by using the Internet to conduct voter education. As we have noted before, the Internet provides unique opportunities to boost participation by explaining the voting process in an easy to understand way. In this case, Democrats Abroad group promoted the online option by smartly using a user friendly cartoon on the Internet to teach members about how to vote on the Internet.

In terms of the actual voting, Wired magazine describes the process this way:
Party members outside the United States who registered for the service through Democrats Abroad by Feb. 1 received an unencrypted e-mail with a 10-digit ballot number and an eight-digit PIN. . . . After logging on with the ballot number to a secure server at the Democrats Abroad website, users were asked for additional personal information as a security measure, before receiving a certified Java applet. Once the applet is accepted, the PIN is requested and if correct, the ballot is loaded. After the voter clicks “X” for a candidate, a summary screen pops up asking for confirmation. That’s followed by a receipt with the ballot number, while the actual vote speeds back encrypted.

There were of course downsides to this process, some potentially serious. Any Internet-based system inherently raises concerns about hacking and manipulation. There have been questions about the security of the Democrats Abroad system, especially the potential for identity theft. Moreover, by using this system, voters gave up the right to a secret ballot. Having said that, there were no news reports of any major problems or complaints regarding the system, and the organization told me that there were “no glitches.”

This is not to advocate for the widespread use of online voting, certainly not for voters in the United States. But for voters who live overseas, whether because they serve in the military, work, or study there, the absentee ballot system has been shown to have failed many of them. The small scale success of the Democrats Abroad experiment suggests continuing to research ways in which technological tools can be used in a secure and effective manner to make sure that the votes of these citizens are counted.

Tova Andrea Wang is a Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation.