ELECTRONIC ELECTIONS

By Abdul Halim Saad, BA Malaya, Dip Politics LSE, MA Peace Studies Bradford.

An election is a formal process where voters choose politicians to be legislators and it has been the usual mechanism by which representative democracy operates since 1800.

Throughout history, ballot papers are used to vote for a particular political candidate that a voter wishes to put him/her in the parliament of the country.

Many countries, however, have adopted the electronic election system in line with the need for improvement in electoral systems and also in line with the current multimedia development.

What do you mean by all systems electronic?

Registration of voters. The registration of voters is automatically (AVR) done by the election authorities through a computerized system as and when a citizen reaches the voting age.

Nomination of candidates. The candidates are nominated online through a nomination portal and affidavits developed by the election authorities.

Online campaigns. Party candidates may make full use of multimedia applications and TV networks for political campaigns to connect with their voters and supporters.

Electronic voting. There are 2 types of electronic voting: 1. voting by electronic voting machine (EVM) at the polling stations by using cards or touch screen 2. voting through the internet portal (IV) connected to the voter’s computer, tablet, or telephone and voting can be done from home or anywhere..

Electronic counting. Since voting is done electronically, the vote counting is also done electronically and instantly and the result can be released on the same day.

Online declaration of result. The results of the election can be made live through the mainstream media and also through online portals direct to the voter’s tablets or mobile telephones.

Special training for officials. Special training has to be conducted for election officials on the mechanics of electronic and online voting systems.

Which countries are using electronic elections?

Australia. In 2007, Australia used internet voting for its military personnel deployed on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands.

Bangladesh. Electronic voting was introduced in Bangladesh which has 150.000 voters to resolve problems of using paper ballots, first in the 2007 general election and in 2018.

Brazil. It was done in its 2010 presidential election and Brazil had more than 135 million voters and the result was announced 75 minutes after the end of voting.

Canada. In 2018, Canada started its electronic voting in municipal and provincial elections but paper voting is still maintained in the federal election.

Estonia. The first country in the world to conduct Internet Voting, in 2007, that allows its citizens to vote from home or anywhere in the world is Estonia. In 2019 parliamentary election, 257,240 people or 45% voted by using the internet. Estonia also has online public services that are available 24 hours a day except for marriages as you still have to get out of the house to get it done.

European Union. The EU launched the CyberVote project in the EU election in 2000 by using fixed and mobile Internet terminals which started in Sweden, France and Germany, and in 2019 European parliament election, 155,540 voters or 48% voted over the internet.

France. France uses internet voting for all its citizens abroad beginning 2020 but only in legislative and consular elections not for the presidential election where ballots are used.

India. India finds electronic voting as the best option for the biggest democracy in the world. It has 920 million voters, 543 parliamentary constituencies and an average of 700,000 voters per constituency. India started electronic voring in 2004 and in the 2019 parliamentary election alone, it has 689 parties and 8,143 candidates contesting with an average of 15 candidates per constituency.

Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan first started using electronic voting in 2004 and 2007 parliamentary elections and then in the presidential election of 2005.

The Philippines. The Philippines carried out its first ever entirely electronically tabulated election, using an optical scan voting system in its 2010 presidential election.

Switzerland. Several cantons have developed internet voting for citizens to vote by internet which started in the 2009 elections, 110,000 Swiss voters living abroad voted by internet voting.

Namibia. Namibia became the first African nation to use electronic voting machines in local elections in 2014 and in the 2019 general election.

USA. Electronic voting in the US involves several types of machines: touch screens, scanners and web servers and every US state has its own systems supplied by various computer companies.

What are the advantages of electronic elections?

Fast and easy. Voting is fast and hassle free, through a portable machine or a portal connected to the personal computers, anywhere in the world.

High voter turnout. As electronic elections facilitate voting, the voting turnout may increase considerably to most probably up to 80% of the registered voters.

Allows the diaspora to vote. Internet voting allows the country’s diasporas and outstation voters to vote as they represent almost 15% of a country’s registered voters.

Safe and convenient. The country’s digital ecosystem is safe, convenient, transparent and flexible in governance and in business and entrepreneurship.

Easy to transport. The Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are easy to transport compared to ballot boxes as they are lighter, more portable and come with polypropylene carrying cases.

Faster vote counting. Vote counting is also faster and done electronically. Imagine the hassle of a counting process for 920 million of voters in India or 240 million US voters, for example.

Voter-friendly. Internet voting is also voter-friendly especially to the senior citizens and the disable persons as they can choose to vote at home via telephone or computers rather than going to the polling stations to exercise their votes.

Good answer to pandemics Electronic voting can avoid physical contacts and huge election crowds if the election is done during a pandemic situation.

Reduce fraud. Electronic voting can overcome the criticisms in particular on the discrepancies or vote cheating in paper balloting and fraud in manual counting.

Saving papers. The printed paper ballots are more expensive and one of the reasons India opts to electronic voting is that it saves about 10,000 tonnes of the ballot papers in every national election.

Avoid logistical nightmare. Paper balloting is also a logistical nightmare, in printing, transportation, counting, storage, staffing remuneration and above all the security of the ballot papers.

Vote18. There will be a drastic increase in the number of voters in a country and electronic voting may be a good procedure to handle the new generation of 18 to 24-year old voters.

Vote-on-Campus. Almost 100% of students in any universities are eligible to vote in Vote18 and universities should therefore open polling stations in campus instead of asking the students to go back to their hometowns to vote. The University of Waterloo (Canada), Rochester University (USA) and Northumbria University (UK) have polling booths on campus.

Up-trend in voting system. Voting electronically can be considered a development in modern democracy and countries therefore should not be left behind in implementing it as it has become an upward trend.

Trendy electronic campaigns. Voting aside, political campaigns are done electronically through computers, mobile phones and social media and the electronic style is found to be trendy and up-to-date.

Business opportunities. The manufacturing and servicing of the electronic voter machines (EVMs) can be done locally and it is a good business opportunity for local internet companies.

Multimedia master-plan. Most countries in the world are embarking on multimedia development and electronic elections fit well in a country’s national multimedia masterplan.

What are the problems of electronic elections?

High capital cost. Electronic voting requires initial capital spending to purchase electronic voter machines and equipment and in ensuring a high level of internet usage in a country.

Cyber interference. Online voting may pose security risks such as hacking, scamming, or jamming and digital interference by groups inside and outside the country.

Digital divide. Internet voting can not be efficiently implemented if the country has a low internet usage but most countries in the region however have high internet usage e.g. Indonesia 79%, Philippines 69%, Malaysia 80%, Singapore 84%. Thailand 60% and Vietnam 71%.

Abuse of information. Digital platforms are used to shape the flow of information on the internet by those who are seeking to disrupt the elections or to determine the winners.

Fair TV air-times. TV stations must be fair and give equal chance to all candidates in airtime allocations including the independent candidates.

Technical glitches. Problems due arise on the early part of the introduction of both electronic and internet voting and the election authorities must be familiar in resolving arising issues.

Rejection by some countries. Some countries are still not comfortable with electronic voting most probably due to either technical, security or constitutional issues.

Constitutional issues. It is observed that many countries have to handle the legal and constitutional issues if elections are to be done electronically.

Conclusion

The benchmark of any election is voter turnouts and democracy can be made alive if many people are given the chance to vote.

If the internet is so vulnerable, can we then explain how the extensive use of the internet and multimedia in finance and banking systems are squeaky clean?

It has been observed that moving from ballot to electronic elections is a big challenge for governments and it is also a sign of democratic modernization.

It is also to be noted that electronic elections, especially internet voting, are considerably a quiet affair minus the open air campaigns, political rallies and victory celebrations.

“All of us may have been created equal. But we’ll never actually be equal until we all vote. So don’t wait.” – Leonardo DiCaprio, actor, producer.

The writer is head of Asia Pacific Risk Consultancy and is a former lecturer in international politics at Sultan Idris Education University, Proton City, Malaysia. (Article No: 120).

Photo Credit: Medium