US voters will soon vote via smartphones, businessman Andrew Yang says
It's undeniable, mobile phones have become essential items in our lives.
We use them for everything: communicating with other people, showing off our best pictures, booking gym classes, managing our finances, and even paying for our groceries.
Yet, there is one thing most people still don't use their smartphones for: voting in elections.
Since Estonia became the first country in the world to introduce internet voting in local government council elections in 2005, this use of technology has been a topic of debate in the political arena.
Some experts fear it could undermine democratic standards by threatening voter privacy and compromising the integrity of elections due to potential interceptions and security vulnerabilities.
Others opt for a more positive stance, arguing that online voting could increase voter turnout, strengthening democratic systems.
United States entrepreneur Andrew Yang is part of the latter group. He joined My Wildest Prediction to explain why, according to him, smartphone voting could revolutionise American politics.
Yang is an entrepreneur, a former US presidential candidate with the Democratic Party, and the founding co-chair of the Forward Party.
My Wildest Prediction is a podcast series from Euronews Businesswhere we dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries. In this episode, Tom Goodwin talks to Andrew Yang, a US businessman and former presidential candidate.
'My wildest prediction is that Americans will be voting on their smartphones in the next eight years,' Andrew Yang told Euronews Business.
In describing how this process could work, Yang cited the US organisation Mobile Voting, a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative working to make smartphone voting a reality.
Looking at Mobile Voting's trials, Yang explained that voting by smartphone would not be mandatory, but one option of a hybrid system, allowing people to choose whether to vote digitally or in person.
He also noted that the digital ballots would have a paper backup once received by the election offices, adding a layer of verification.
According to Yang, mobile voting could profoundly change the US political system.
'Smartphones have been a net negative in terms of the functioning of democracy in America and most countries; it's about time they did something good,' he said.
For this reason, Yang believes that resistance to online voting stems less from security concerns and more from a fear of disrupting the existing two-party status quo in the US.
Yang is convinced that mobile voting could make voting more accessible, boost voter turnout and reduce US polarisation.
According to him, greater participation would especially impact the US primaries, which have historically been characterised by very low participation. In 2022 primaries, for instance, the turnout of all eligible voters was 21.3%, meaning that the presidential candidates were chosen by a minority.
Thanks to a greater participation through mobile voting, Andrew Yang thinks US politics could move away from the biparty system and take into consideration a broader range of opinions.
'That's why we have to improve accessibility, so that you can expand the franchise,' Yang told Euronews Business.
He argued that mobile voting could have influenced the outcome of recent US elections: 'It would have changed the type of candidates that were getting through the primaries, if you had a more representative electorate.'
Yang thinks that a shift in politics can be helpful in tackling major problems.
According to the businessman, US politics needs a structural change to address some important economic questions.
'We're looking for a hero or a villain to save us, a person to change everything, but what's required is changing the underlying system,' he told Euronews Business.
Looking ahead, Yang is pessimistic about the trajectory of the US economy. He fears that without bigger political participation, socio-economic inequalities in the country will only continue to deepen.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he intends to significantly reduce his political spending in future campaigns, during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday.
Musk reportedly donated more than $250 million (€221 million) to support Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. When asked whether he would match that level of spending in the 2026 midterm elections, Musk replied, 'I think, in terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future.'
He was offered the role of head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), assisting the president in cutting thousands of federal jobs. However, Musk's political involvement has drawn backlash towards Tesla, including protests and acts of vandalism targeting its showrooms. His support for far-right European parties has also proved controversial, contributing to a steep drop in Tesla's EV sales across the region.
Speaking at a town hall in Wisconsin in March, Musk commented, 'It's costing me a lot to be in this job,' referring to his role as a special government employee. Trump had also signalled that Musk's government tenure may be drawing to a close. During Tesla's Q1 earnings call, Musk stated that the time he spends on DOGE would decrease 'significantly' from May onwards. On Tuesday, he reaffirmed that he would remain Tesla's CEO for at least the next five years.
Tesla's share price rose 3.6% intraday before paring gains later in the session. The world's largest EV maker has seen its stock rebound more than 50% from a year-low in late April, helped by improving market sentiment abroad amid easing US-China trade tensions.
President Trump's recent Middle East tour further boosted US tech stocks, as he secured deals worth over $1 trillion with three major Gulf states. Musk was among the business leaders accompanying Trump on the trip. However, Tesla's shares are still down 12% year-to-date as of the market close on 20 May.
Asked about the decline in Tesla's sales, Musk downplayed the concern. 'It's already turned around,' he said, referring to the share price recovery. 'The stock wouldn't be trading near all-time highs if it was not.'
While acknowledging that Europe remains Tesla's weakest market, Musk attributed the decline to multiple factors, including tariff shocks and soft EV demand. The company reported a 20% year-on-year decline in EV revenue worldwide in the first quarter.
In April, Tesla's European sales continued to fall significantly year-on-year: down 46% in Germany, 62% in the UK, and by more than two-thirds in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Nevertheless, Musk highlighted stronger performance in other regions, stating, 'The sales numbers at this point are strong.'
Despite the headwinds, investor optimism remains focused on Tesla's upcoming Robotaxi programme. Musk confirmed on Tuesday, in an interview with CNBC, that Tesla will launch the fully autonomous vehicle services in Austin by the end of June, as originally planned. He added that Robotaxi will later expand to Los Angeles and San Francisco following its Austin debut.
Musk had earlier stated that unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology would roll out in California and Texas by June. The Austin launch will feature the Model Y fitted with a 'localised parameter set' optimised for the region.
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