On Friday, 11 April 2025, Edvard Kozel, MSc, successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled: “The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Factor Influencing the Intention to Use Internet Voting in the Republic of Slovenia.”
The defence committee was composed of Prof. Dr. Matevž Tomšič and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Urška Fric.
The doctoral thesis was prepared under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mitja Dečman.
Abstract of the doctoral thesis:
The current digital revolution is undoubtably changing the way people live and work. Furthermore, the covid‑19 pandemic radically changed the way we carry out our daily tasks, adding an additional push toward the digital age. Even the exercise of democratic rights, especially elections, was adapted to ensure that the conditions for holding free and fair elections align with maintaining health. Consequently, we have again witnessed a global revival of the debate between advocates of the benefits of Internet voting (i-voting) and skeptics thereof. Indeed, the findings regarding the acceptance of i-voting and the factors impacting it are unclear or mixed, so there is a need to address these topics in the present and future. Studies of elections conducted during the pandemic added little to the debate, even though digital technology played a crucial role in addressing covid‑19 problems in so many domains. This dissertation presents an empirical study of the impact of the domain-specific factors of trust in government, trust in technology, citizens’ voting habits, and especially covid‑19 conditions on the intention to use i-voting.
Survey data of 633 adult citizens of Slovenia were obtained at the beginning of 2022, when voters were still burdened by the pandemic situation, while knowing that in 2022 they would have to visit polling stations at least five times in order to participate in all scheduled voting. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The study provides important insights, such as: (1) trust in the electoral ecosystem, from both a technical and institutional perspective, has a significant impact on voters’ intention to use i-voting; (2) fear of covid‑19 does not persuade people to use i-voting instead of other alternatives; (3) previous voting habits do not have a significant impact on intention to use i-voting. The results contribute to research on the determinants of pandemic effects on society in the domain of democratic processes, especially in the acceptance of i-voting. Furthermore, they send an important message to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to start implementing and using e-democracy and e-participation tools on all levels to generate trust in these digital tools. Only in such a way might i-voting be accepted by voters.
Sincere congratulations!
