Electronic Voting & Counting Technologies - IFES

INTERNATIONAL ELECTORAL DECISION IN STANDARDSPRINCIPLEfundamentally affect the success or failureof any technology project. Of particularimportance is the development of a setof requirements that the solution wouldbe required to meet. If this is not properlydefined then the solution recommended bythe feasibility study may not be appropriatefor the electoral process.The development of this set of requirementsmay also be of importance beyond thescope of the feasibility study. One possibleresult of a feasibility study may be that nosuitable electronic voting and countingtechnology products are found which meetthe electoral requirements in question. Ifthis is the case, the set of requirementsidentified by addressing this issue willremain valid and can be used in the futurewhen new products are developed whichmight better meet these requirements.Issue 3: Review of IT Security Aspects —System security is an incredibly importantfeature of electronic voting and countingtechnologies. These technologies areinherently less transparent than the use ofpaper ballots, where all steps in voting andcounting are observable. If an electronicvoting or counting system is to be properlytrusted by electoral stakeholders it isimportant that the security challengespresented by the use of the technology areunderstood. Mechanisms should be in placeto mitigate these security challenges and anysecurity breaches should be easily identified.There are a number of questions that needto be considered by the working group onthis issue:• Will the source code for the electronicvoting or counting technology be opensource or not?• How will the source code be tested andcertified?• How will it be verified that the sourcecode used for the conduct of electionsis the same as the one tested andcertified?• What mechanisms are in place toensure that the new system is protectedagainst tampering and that it can beeasily determined when it has beentampered with?• If results are electronically transmittedfrom electronic voting or countingmachines to a regional or centraltabulation facility, how will the resultsbe encrypted to ensure there is nounauthorized access to the results?• How will results transmitted electronically,to a regional or central tabulation facility,be verified on receipt to ensure that theyare legitimate and they are submittedfrom an authorized officer or location?The working group addressing thesetechnical issues will need to make sure thatit is able to clearly articulate the results ofthe discussions around these issues to theFeasibility Study Committee. This will bevery important in order to provide technicalrequirements to the working group dealingwith issue 2 above. It will also help definethe technical components of any laterInternational Foundation for Electoral Systems 33