Electronic Voting & Counting Technologies - IFES

INTRODUCTIONINTERNATIONAL ELECTORAL STANDARDS• Increase in Turnout — Electronic votingand counting technologies may increaseturnout if these technologies helpimprove trust in the electoral process;if the technology makes people moreinterested in participating or increasesaccess for certain communities. 5“Electronic voting andcounting technologiesmay increase turnout ifthese technologies helpimprove trust in the electoralprocess.”• Elimination of Invalid/Incorrectly CastBallots — In some countries significantnumbers of ballots are deemed invalidand not counted. Those voters aredisenfranchised. Where ballots are castand recorded electronically, the electronicvoting software can be configuredto ensure only valid ballots are cast(although blank ballots may still beallowed). Likewise where paper ballotsare inserted into an electronic ballot box,the validity and choices of the voter canbe displayed, allowing voters to changetheir ballot if a mistake was made.• Speed of Counting — An importantadvantage of using electronic votingtechnology, which directly recordvotes electronically, is that results areimmediately available after polls close,without a lengthy counting process.5 For example, geographically remote communities,people with disabilities and overseas voters.Even when paper ballots are used,but electronically counted, the resultsare normally available a lot faster thanmanual counting.• Standard Adjudication of Ballots —Counting paper ballots electronicallyensures that the same kind of ballotmarking is adjudicated in the samemanner across all polling stations. Thisensures consistency on which ballots arecounted and which are determined tobe invalid. This is often not the case withmanual counting of ballots.• Accurate Tabulation of Results — Whenresults are electronically recorded andtransmitted to the election managementbody (EMB) for tabulation, the possibilityof data entry errors during resultstabulation is greatly diminished.• Impartiality — Electronic voting andcounting technologies follow predefinedrules and are independent from humaninfluence and impartial.• Fraud Prevention — Electronic votingand counting technologies can mitigatesome fraud in polling stations. Forexample, some electronic voting andcounting technologies only allow votesto be cast at a certain speed, thusmitigating ‘ballot stuffing.’ Similarly,electronic counting of ballots mitigatesfraud during the counting process.Electronic voting and countingtechnologies cannot, however, eliminateall aspects of electoral fraud.6Electronic Voting & Counting Technologies: A Guide to Conducting Feasibility Studies