Are online elections coming soon?

PHOENIX, AZ - On a day it's 108 degrees in the Valley, wouldn't it be nice to participate in the electoral process from the comfort of your own home?

Some say it's one way to boost low turnout for elections. Turnout for Tuesday's primary elections was estimated to be only 30%.

But election officials say don't hold your breath for internet-based voting as it's not happening anytime soon.

Experts say online voting was on track to be in use by the year 2020, but those experts now estimate internet-based voting won't arrive until 2030 at the earliest.

There are a couple of roadblocks standing in the way of internet voting including the fact that not everybody owns a computer with internet access.

Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell tells ABC15 online voting is still subject to being targeted by hackers.

Purcell says most people feel secure voting with a traditional paper ballot versus voting on the internet and she doesn't see that changing until the technology related to voting online improves.

"I don't think we're there with the security for online voting," said Purcell. "If we had the security issue settle down, maybe we could do (internet-based voting)."

Currently, Purcell says the closest thing Arizona offers to internet-based voting is print-at-home ballots for members of the military serving overseas.