Electronic Voting & Counting Technologies - IFES

INTERNATIONAL PILOT PROJECTELECTORAL STANDARDSAnother indicator of the consequencesof using electronic technologies couldbe in the incident rate of electionrelated violence in pilot project locationscompared to non-pilot project locations.of the use of the electronic voting orcounting technology, and if so, why?Were potential voters sufficiently wellinformed about how to use the electronicvoting or counting solution?But these quantitative measures can onlyprovide so much information about the use ofelectronic voting and counting technologies.They need to be supplemented by qualitativeassessments of the following kinds of issuesand questions:• Voter Experience — Were voters awareof the pilot project before attendingthe polling location? Was sufficientinformation provided prior to the pilotto enable voters to understand howto use electronic voting or countingtechnologies? How easy did votersfind the electronic voting or countingtechnologies to use? Did they experiencespecific problems in using them? Wereinstructions clear? Were there any issueswith activation and ensuring completionof the voting process? Did the votersunderstand the process of review,confirmation and VVPAT (if there wasa VVPAT)? Did the electronic voting orcounting solution increase or decreasethe need for assisted voting? How couldthe process have been made easier andclearer? Did the voter cast a vote in allelections (if multiple races were beingpiloted), if not, then why? What was thereaction of people in marginalized groupssuch as illiterate and visually impaired?• Non-Voter Motivations — Did somevoters not participate in the pilot because• Configuration of Electronic Votingor Counting Hardware — Howcomprehensive were the instructionson configuring the electronic voting orcounting hardware? How easy wasthe process of configuration? Whatspecialized skills would be of benefit forthose configuring the electronic votingor counting hardware? How might theprocess of configuration be improved?• Polling Station Setup — Howcomprehensive were the instructions onsetting up electronic voting or countingmachines? How easy was the process ofsetting up electronic voting or countingmachines? What specialized skills wouldbe of benefit for those setting up themachines? How might the process ofsetting up the machines be improved?• Polling — How smoothly did theelectronic voting or counting systemoperate during polling? Were anyproblems encountered, and if so, whatwere they? What voter feedback wasreceived about using the electronicvoting or counting system? How long didit take on average for voters to cast theirballot using the system? Did voters seemto understand how to use the electronicsystem or did they often have to seekhelp from the polling staff?72Electronic Voting & Counting Technologies: A Guide to Conducting Feasibility Studies