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The current digital revolution is undoubtedly forcing humanity to change the way people receive information, communicate, and interact. The recent COVID-19 crisis has brought an additional push towards the digital in private and public life. In democratic countries, this phenomenon is also changing the way democracy functions, thrives, or is weakened. As research in recent decades has shown that democratic and participatory tendencies are on the decline, and “digital transformation” is seen as an opportunity to research ways to re-engage people in democratic decision-making processes, including voting. In an analysis of 1,114 elections in 169 countries between 1975 and 2011, Bishop and Hoeffler (2016) found that the quality of elections has declined over the years and that only about half met the criteria for free and fair elections. Moreover, statistics from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) show a steady downward trend in voter turnout in most countries around the world over the past several decades (International IDEA, 2022a). In addition to socioeconomic, political, individual, and institutional factors, studies point to the importance of a variety of other influences that are reflected in voter turnout (Solijonov, 2016). Carreras and İrepoğlu (2013) found that low voter turnout is usually the result of voter apathy and lack of trust in government, the political process, and the electoral system and administration, which is addressed in this research. Some authors have examined whether emergencies, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, have an impact on these trends and whether trust in government has also increased in countries that have successfully managed the crisis (Goldfinch et al., 2021; Yu et al., 2022). Therefore, the impact of the pandemic is one of the main foci of this research.
Trust in its broadest sense has also been identified as a key factor in the acceptance and use of new technologies (Mcknight et al., 2011). This is particularly true for e-participation, especially i-voting (Ehin et al., 2022), where trust in technology and trust in government as a service provider have been highlighted as the most important aspects (Licht et al., 2021; Mensah, 2020). This is because the reputation of the electoral process is often affected by malpractices such as fraud, manipulation, corruption, and scandals. Therefore, public trust in the integrity of elections is shaken, and adding the element of technology is not helpful. Ultimately, trust in technology and trust in government form the basis of this study.
In the last years of the COVID-19 epidemic, information and communication technologies (ICTs) proved to be an important factor in overcoming various obstacles. The COVID-19 crisis has fundamentally shaken the way societies live and function, including democratic processes. In many countries, COVID-19 had an impact on the organization and conduct of elections. For governments responsible for conducting elections, this situation presented new and unprecedented challenges to ensure a way of voting that minimized the risk of contagion. Governments and their institutions responded to this situation with various measures: postponing elections, expanding remote voting options, or restricting the proximity of polling places to reduce the risk of contagion. Of the options used, Krimmer et al. (2021) reported in-person voting with security measures, absentee voting, and i-voting, while Herrnson et al. (2022) noted more elections in which more voters used the remote voting option (e.g., absentee voting was exceptionally allowed for all). Between February 2020 and February 2022, at least 160 countries and territories decided to hold national or subnational elections despite concerns related to COVID-19, of which at least 130 held national elections or referendums (International IDEA, 2022b). The same survey found a decline in voter turnout in 71 of 108 countries where turnout was measured. We can conclude that pandemics threaten not only the health of people but also the health and legitimacy of democracies, posing an additional challenge to e-democracy that must therefore be carefully considered.