Study out today suggest that the impact of online voting could encourage 5.5 million non-voters to vote.

The research, commissioned by Cisco Systems and undertaken by YouGov, was completed online using a nationally representative sample size of 2,136 British adults.

Researchers found that sixty-six percent of those who did not vote in the general 2005 election, would have voted online had it been possible. The research revealed that older citizen were more likely to have voted using new technology than the younger voters. Of the those questioned, 74 percent of non-voters over the age of 50 would have preferred to vote online compared to 63 percent of 30-50 year old non-voters and 65 percent of 18-29 year olds.

Angela Salt, Director of Communication at The Electoral Commission said, “While we don’t believe that e-voting would, on its own, solve the problem of lower voter turnout, we do know that voters want a choice of convenient, secure ways to vote. Provided that levels of security and confidence in those methods can be ensured, we are committed to working towards a 21st century democracy where electors choose the method, day and time to vote.”