la automatiZación Del voto. entre el mieDo y la Pasión: un anÁlisis De cuatro casos euroPeos* Automation of the vote. Between fear and passion: Four european cases analysis

The paper presents four empirical cases of deployment of electronic voting technologies, highlighting the different contexts and outcomes. Ireland with a top-down decision acquired voting machines that, following a heated debate in the public opinion, had to be stored and never set up. Great Britain experimented different technological solutions, also in elections with legal standing, but gave up the prospect to use e-voting on a large scale. The Netherlands, that were accustomed to voting by means of direct recording electronic machines, had to face the issues raised by a pressure group and reintroduced paper-and-pencil ballots. Finally Estonia offered internet voting as one of the possible voting channels, gaining more and more confidence by its citizens. The comparison of these cases shows the crucial role played by values, meanings and expectations towards the institutions and towards the duty/right to vote in shaping the (in) success of e- and i-voting schemes.