Electronic Voting & Counting Technologies - IFES

INTERNATIONAL ELECTORAL INTRODUCTIONSTANDARDS• Cost — Electronic voting and countingtechnologies remove the need forexpensive ballot printing, distribution,storage, etc. However, thesetechnologies also incur different costswhich need to assessed over the lifecycle of the technology.Disadvantages of voting and countingtechnology listed by opponents include:• Lack of Transparency — Transparencyis a key component of building andmaintaining trust in the electoralprocess. The paper balloting system isvery transparent. Observers can watchballots being issued, voters placing theirmarked ballots in the ballot box andballots being counted. Electronic votingtechnology, more so than electroniccounting technology, is often consideredto be a ‘black box.’ This is because itis not possible to observe the way inwhich the selected choices of votersare aggregated to produce the resultsannounced. We simply have to trustthat these results accurately reflect thechoices made by voters. This makesthe checking of results producedby electronic voting and countingtechnologies all the more important.• Confidence — Lack of transparencywith electronic voting and countingtechnologies means that confidencein the operation of the technologyis a considerable problem. Electionmanagement bodies need to ensurethat trust in the electoral process ismaintained. Once trust is lost, it is difficult“Lack of transparency withelectronic voting and countingtechnologies means thatconfidence in the operationof the technology is aconsiderable problem.”to re-establish. While the introductionof electronic voting and countingtechnologies does not have to lead to anerosion of trust in the electoral process,it has happened in some countries.Election management bodies are likelyto have to introduce new procedures,possibly random audit of results orpublication of source code for electronicvoting and counting technologies, inorder to maintain trust in the process.• Audit of Results — A great strength ofthe paper balloting system is that if theresults of an election are challengedthen the ballots can be recounted tocheck the result. Many electronic votingmachines 6 have no such possibility forauditing and checking the results of anelection. The ability to audit and checkis an important feature of building trustin the electoral process and increasingacceptance of the results. Someelectronic voting machines do havewhat is called a Voter Verified PaperAudit Trail (VVPAT), which prints a copyof the electronic ballot and is verifiedby the voter before casting the ballot.This VVPAT can be used to audit/check electronic results produced bythe electronic voting machine (EVM).6 Electronic counting machines have the paper ballotcompleted by the voter as a natural audit trail.International Foundation for Electoral Systems 7