THE humble polling booth is one of the cornerstones of our democracy.
There, in total privacy, and free from interference, the citizen can exercise their right to vote.
The postal vote has its place for those who genuinely cannot get to the polling station but, as senior judge Richard Mawrey QC has said, it’s already open to fraud on an "industrial scale".
For the rest of us, I believe the physical act of having to vote gives time for reflection.
I make these points because the Speaker’s commission on digital democracy has, this week, recommended that electors should be able to vote on line in 2020.
The caveat, John Bercow says, is whether “it can be established as secure and reliable”.
In my view, it can’t.
To begin with, total privacy is not guaranteed in a voter’s home.
For that very reason, Norway stopped experimenting with digital democracy after elections in 2011 and 2013.
In addition, Norwegians simply did not believe their vote would remain secret, not least because pin-codes and security numbers can be hacked.
And when it comes to actually voting, how does the returning officer know who physically voted?
Interestingly, Norway also found that online voting failed to boost turnout or to mobilize new voters, like young people.
Both are key aims of the Speaker’s new report.
Finally, the Speaker is also keen to de-mystify parliamentary language and procedures by 2020.
While I support Bills written in plain English, that’s not the same as throwing out the House’s great traditions, courtesies and rituals.
One of them is filing through the Division Lobby to vote.
It is here that backbenchers can collar senior colleagues, and even the Prime Minister on occasions, to further their constituents’ concerns.
The Commons has an extraordinary history; let’s respect it.