GLOBAL PRACTICE MEETING ON ELECTORAL SYSTEMS

1
GLOBAL PRACTICE MEETING ON ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
PROCESSES
ICT and Elections
Maria Helena Alves
2
Benefits of Technology for Electoral
Administration
ICT and Elections

• Voters trust
• Accuracy
• Efficiency
• Decrease of overall costs
• Administration improvements

Maria Helena Alves
3
Issues to take in consideration
ICT and Elections

• Legal implication
• Voters perceptions
• Benefits
• Implementation time frame
• Cost effectiveness
• Sustainability

Maria Helena Alves
4
Electoral Administration Stakeholders
Electoral Systems and ProcessesICT and Elections

• Government
• Political Parties
• Civil Society Organizations
• Professional Groups
• EMB Staff
• Suppliers????

Customers

• Citizens / Voters
• Society in general

Maria Helena Alves
5
Technologies for Electoral Administration
Electoral Systems and ProcessesICT and Elections

• Administrative Systems
• Data Base Systems
• Voting Operations Systems
• Dissemination of Information

Maria Helena Alves
6
Administrative systems
ICT and Elections

• Accounting and budgeting
• Personnel management
• Procurement
• Logistics
• Auditing
• Districting and re-districting

Maria Helena Alves
7
Administrative systems
ICT and Elections

• Few specific Legal Implications
• Usually little impact on voters perceptions
• Good efficiency gains
• Implementation time frame has usually low impact
  on the electoral process
• Costs can be significant but are recoupable
• Easily sustainable

Maria Helena Alves
8
Data Management Systems
ICT and Elections

• Voter register
• Parties and candidates data base
• Geographic information
• Voting stations data base
• Polling officials data base

Maria Helena Alves
9
Data Management Systems
ICT and Elections

• Can have legal implications
• Voter perceptions are important
• Good efficiency gains
• Implementation time frame can impact the
  electoral process
• Costs can be significant but usually are
  justifiable

Maria Helena Alves
10
Dissemination of Information
ICT and Elections

• Training of electoral officers
• Voter information
• Dissemination of electoral results

Maria Helena Alves
11
Voting Systems
ICT and Elections

• Voters verification
• Voters authentication
• Vote recording
• Vote counting
• Vote tabulation and consolidation

Maria Helena Alves
12
Voting Systems
ICT and Elections

• Can have significant legal implications
• Voter perceptions are very important
• Efficiency gains depends on technology used
• Implementation time frame can impact elections
• Costs can be significant
• Sustainability can be questionable

Maria Helena Alves
13
EXAMPLES
ICT and Elections

• Elections Brazil (Voting)
• Elections Jamaica (Registration and
  authentication)
• Elections Switzerland (Internet Voting)

Maria Helena Alves
14
Strategies to use technologies without
jeopardizing the electoral process
ICT and Elections

• Involve stakeholders
• Survey political environment
• Survey cultural issues
• Present the benefits clearly
• Be transparent about costs/other issues

Maria Helena Alves
15
To insure success
ICT and Elections

• Conduct feasibility studies
• Prepare contingency plans
• Have back up and recovery procedures
• Have manual systems to back up computer systems
  

Maria Helena Alves
16
Conclusion
ICT and Elections

• The use of technologies are here to stay but
  their implementation could be problematic if not
  taken with sensitivity and care
• and
• Visit www.aceproject.org

Maria Helena Alves