This paper makes an assessment of the technical and social motivations that drive some governments to promote and implement e-voting mechanisms. Success stories mentioned, especially those in Latin America, and contrasted with those cases where e-voting implementation has failed, as has happened in some European countries. Finally, the relationship between new technologies that promote e-voting and the nature of the elections as a part of democracy is analyzed. It could be argued that voting is not solely a technical exercise, it is an element that merges different political and social elements that e-voting promoters should not ignore.