Electronic Voting & Counting Technologies - IFES

INTERNATIONAL ELECTORAL DECISION IN STANDARDSPRINCIPLEsolution should be used. This would requirethat the electronic voting and countingtechnology meet all the requirements of theelection in question.Finding that using electronic voting andcounting technologies for elections is notfeasible is not a failure for the study. Infact, if the previous steps in the study areconducted comprehensively then the studywill lead to a well defined set of requirementsfor an appropriate electronic voting andcounting technology solution. This set ofrequirements will remain valid and can beused to re-assess, on a periodic basis, anynewly developed products.Issue 5: Cost Benefit Analysis — Shouldan electronic voting and counting solution,or solutions, be found which meet therequirements previously identified then afurther assessment will need to be madeas to whether the implementation of thesesolutions would, on balance, be beneficialand cost effective.There are two components to this analysis.Before the analysis can be conducteda limited number of electronic voting orcounting solutions will need to be selectedfor cost benefit analysis purposes, as theprocess is quite complex to conduct. Thebest electronic voting or counting solutionand the cheapest solution, which still meetsthe requirements, should be selected.Another electronic voting or counting solutionwhich is mid range in terms of cost and interms of meeting the requirements could alsobe selected.The first step is to identify the benefits thateach solution provides compared to thecurrent system of balloting. Similarly a listof disadvantages/challenges associatedwith each solution should be identified. Thecomparison of these two lists of advantagesand disadvantages of the different electronicvoting or counting solutions will show theoverall benefits of using each solution.There is no predefined formula involved inthis assessment of beneficiality. It could bethat there are many disadvantages involvedin using an electronic voting or countingsolution and only one benefit. However, thatbenefit could be of such critical importancethat it would still support the introduction ofelectronic voting or counting technologies.In addition, the importance attached toeach advantage and disadvantage willbe determined by the particular electoralcircumstance. Therefore this analysisof advantages versus disadvantages issomething that can be done in a Committeeformat, but is probably something thatshould be consulted on very widely amongstelectoral stakeholders to ensure there isconsensus on the recommendations resultingfrom this assessment.The second stage of this cost benefit analysisrequires a comprehensive cost analysis ofthe technology and a comparison of costsassociated with using this technology visà-visthe existing system of balloting andcounting — likely paper-based voting.A key component of this cost analysis isto recognize that the costs associatedwith using electronic voting or countingInternational Foundation for Electoral Systems 37