Why do Israeli elections still rely on paper ballots despite digital advancements?

Shutting down the economy on Election Day costs Israel between two and three billion shekels, prompting questions about switching to digital voting. However, Professor Orr Dunkelman, an information security expert at the University of Haifa, argues that the potential costs of such a transition could far outweigh current economic losses. According to Dunkelman, elections are not merely about casting a ballot but involve a complex system of legislation, voter eligibility, and seat allocation that makes digitization inherently challenging. He warns that remote voting from home could undermine freedom of choice due to potential coercion or threats from family members or others. Furthermore, he highlights significant cybersecurity risks, noting that at dedicated hacker conferences in the United States, experts have successfully compromised every voting machine presented to them. Ultimately, Dunkelman emphasizes that the greatest challenge is public confidence; he argues that if election results are clouded by suspicions or conspiracy theories regarding a computerized system, the legitimacy of the entire democratic process could be undermined. He concludes that current mechanisms, including physical polling stations and multi-layered oversight, provide a higher degree of reliability than digital alternatives.