Improving Bulgaria’s election administration with remote voting

Discussions on the current state of democracy tend to gravitate toward regions like the United States, the United Kingdom and India, but perhaps some of the more compelling changes are happening in other parts of the world. Some of the greatest developments are occurring in places like Brazil and the Philippines, for instance, and a major referendum is set to take place this October that could change the face of democracy in Bulgaria.

To be run alongside the Bulgarian local elections on October 25, the national referendum has been reduced down to a single question from the original proposition for three questions to be included. The proposition came forth from Bulgaria's current President Rosen Plevneliev and the question that remains on the referendum is on the subject of remote electronic voting.

More specifically, the referendum question is stated as follows: “Do you support the idea to be able to vote from a distance, electronically at elections and referendums?”

Noteworthy on how this question is being framed is that it is being positioned only as a plebiscite, meaning that the result of the referendum may not necessarily result in immediate change in how future elections are run in Bulgaria. However, if the popular vote returns as a yes, it will be a clear indication that Bulgarians are ready to modernize and improve the administration of elections in their country.

Strong support for remote electronic voting in Bulgaria has already been demonstrated, as the motion is being described not only as a presidential initiative, but as the initiative of over half a million citizens who “put their signatures down.” These same citizens, among many others, must also vote “yes” in October's referendum to ensure their voices are heard loud and clear by the country's politicians and electoral officials. Fair and equal access to exercise their right to franchise is an absolute must for all Bulgarians if the country's democracy is to be seen and understood as fair and equal too.

With the aid of a robust and secure technological infrastructure, remote e-voting can be more efficient, more convenient, and more cost-effective too. As it stands, nearly one million Bulgarians abroad have voting rights and without such a system in place, they would be effectively disenfranchised. President Plevneliev does not agree that millions of Bulgarians should be left out from the political arena simply because they have decided to work abroad.

The availability of e-voting would be in line with how the majority of people live and work today. “We already daily use the opportunities that technology provides us,” stated Plevneliev. “Electronic voting is the future, it will certainly happen. The question is not if, but when.”

Bulgaria certainly would not be the first to entertain the adoption of e-voting or even i-voting over the Internet. The country would be able to look to positive examples, like the i-voting system in Estonia, for inspiration and guidance on how best to implement a reliable, safe and secure system for electronic voting. Now is the time for Bulgaria to automate its elections, maintaining the integrity, legitimacy and relevance of its modern democracy. 

Australia to replace postal voting with i-voting platform

With a land mass of over 7 million square kilometres, Australia is the sixth largest country in the world. However, it is also one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world with a total population of density of just 2.7 people per square kilometre. Compare that to the approximately 32 people per square kilometre of the United States and the 349 people per square kilometre in India. What this means is that reaching each and every citizen can be quite a logistical challenge, particularly for residents of the Outback.

It's no wonder that the Australia Post is considering the elimination of traditional home delivery for mail, moving toward local “community mailboxes” instead. For some Australians, this could mean walking several kilometres simply to fetch or to send off any mail at all. The future of the postal service in Australia is uncertain and this could leave postal voting in jeopardy.

As it stands, Australians do have the opportunity to vote through the mail, but this configuration is rife with challenges. Sending blank paper ballots to citizens and then requiring them to send the ballots back can be costly and time-consuming, not to mention potentially unreliable as the ballots could be lost in the mail. Online voting can overcome many of the issues of postal voting, particularly for Australians living in remote areas. If they can get online, they can vote and the ballot can be received and tabulated instantly.

As with any change, there are risks and challenges associated with online remote voting system. Ian Brightwell, Chief Information Officer for New South Wales’ Electoral Commission, has indicated that Internet voting is worth the risk. By moving toward internet voting, the democratic process is far more accessible not only for residents of remote areas, but also for Australians who may be living overseas or travelling interstate. There is no requirement to return back to their home district to cast a ballot.

Australian authorities are not considering to replace traditional voting altogether; their goal is to provide a complimentary alternative that will enhance the accessibility of the electoral process. Brightwell foresees the iVote system accounting for no more than 10-15% of all ballots cast.

Online voting possibly coming to 2016 Lithuanian elections

The topic of voting over the Internet has been discussed at length on this site. It is absolutely true that more and more people are turning to the Internet for so many more of their daily activities. It is over the Internet that we are able to communicate with one another, just as we are able to complete our online banking, submit our taxes and conduct our business. Why is it that choosing our government officials and allowing our voices to be heard on public matters cannot be accomplished in the same way?

Indeed, the people of Lithuania have cried out for this natural evolution of the democratic process and now their demands are finally being heard. The Lithuanian government has officially approved an initiative wherein online voting could be implemented in time for the country's 2016 parliamentary elections. The proposal was put forth by two ministers from the social-democratic cabinet.

And while this represents a major step forward in modernizing and updating the democratic process in Lithuania to bring it up to speed with the increasingly digital and interconnected age of the Internet, the establishment and deployment of e-voting protocols still has a long way to go. The initiative simply provides for further discussion in parliament about the institution of online voting for Lithuanian citizens in general elections. The actual institution of such a system has not yet been approved.

The people of Lithuania have been urging the government to move forward with Internet-based voting systems for quite some time. Indeed, the World Lithuanian Community and the commission of the Lithuanian parliament passed a resolution back in 2010 to suggest such a move, but discussions continue to this day with no firm decision to include e-voting and i-voting paradigms to the country's democratic process.

The Lithuanian government should take to heart at least two key sources of experience and expertise on the matter.

First, the Internet-based voting system of Estonia has long since been viewed as one of the best in the world. Lithuania would be advised to look to Estonia as a model for how i-voting can be well implemented with a high degree of security, great voter verification, and improved voter turnout numbers. No credible hacking or fraud accusations have been made to date and the advanced identification systems used in Estonia work to prevent voter fraud or vote tampering.

Second, one of the significant motivating factors for implementing Internet-based voting for Lithuania is to better accommodate Lithuanian citizens living and working abroad who would still like to exercise their suffrage right. It places a significant burden on such individuals, particularly from a financial standpoint, to have to return to Lithuania in order to vote. In India, remote e-voting has been mandated for non-resident Indians for this exact reason.

Internet voting should never replace traditional voting in a physical polling place supervised by election officials and vetted volunteers. Citizens should always have the right to cast their ballot in person, ideally through a direct-recording electronic voting machine with a voter-verifiable paper trail and a robust audit system throughout the democratic process. Instead, Internet voter should be offered as an option for citizens wishing to utilize it and it can serve as a very suitable alternative to postal voting, particularly for absentee ballots.

Some sixty-five percent of those polled in Lithuania support the implementation of online voting. As Lithuania moves toward its elections in October 2016, the hope is the parliamentary discussions can move quickly enough to have such a system in place in time.

Lessons from the EVOTE 2014 International Conference

Issues related to the administration of a local, regional or national election may sound like they would only be the concern of the locality, region or country where the election is being held, but this is never quite the case. No part of the world exists in true isolation and great lessons can be learned through the collaboration of great minds around the globe.

And it is with this kind of philosophy and mission that EVOTE2014 was hosted at Castle Hofen in Lochau / Bregenz, Austria. The sixth international conference was held from October 28 to October 31, 2014 and it was attended by some 100 representatives from 33 countries from five different continents. Several topics related to electronic voting technology were discussed and presented at the conference.

It was noted, for instance, that many of the major advances and expansions in e-voting technology have come from developing countries, particularly in Latin America, rather than from more established democracies where more “traditional” manual elections have a stronger foothold. Estonia is widely viewed as a leader in pushing i-voting technology forward, along with developments in countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Ecuador. 

Of particular interest at the EVOTE2014 conference was the submission by Julia Pomares, Director of Political Institutions at the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth (CIPPEC), in collaboration with Guillermo Lopez Mirau, Teresa Shepherd and California Institute of Technology's R. Michael Alvarez. Winner of the Best Paper Award at the EVOTE 2014 conference, the paper focuses on the experience of Salta district in Argentina where e-voting was rolled out to the entire electorate in 2013.

A big lesson from that election is that it is of critical importance that the electorate has confidence in integrity of the election process and supports e-voting technology. If the public does not support the implementation of e-voting technology or it does not trust how such technology is being used, then further strides in advancing and improving electronic voting technology will stall or be hindered. 

Positive perception of the voting process and the belief that the voting system is easy to use are of great importance. Furthermore, people who have more positive views of technology in daily life are generally more positive about how e-voting is changing how elections are run around the world. 

The final programme for EVOTE2014 followed the overall conference theme of verifying the vote. While electronic voting technology can be used very successfully in quickly and efficiently counting the votes, in addition to voting machines being used for auditable ballot submissions, these votes must also be suitably verified in order to maintain the privacy, confidentiality and integrity of the final tallied results. 

At EVOTE2014, a workshop was held covering 10 pillars of end-to-end online voting verifiability, for example, while another session discussed how verifiable Internet voting works in Estonia. Other sessions included a talk by Vanessa Teague from the University of Melbourne on Trust and Verifiability in Australian E-voting, a session hosted by Rajeev Gore and Thomas Meumann on verified vote-counting, and a panel discussion on public attitudes toward Internet voting in Greece, particularly on the issue of verifiable e-voting. 

While each region, each nation and each service provider will continue to make their own decisions in regards to how e-voting and i-voting are best administered, international conferences like EVOTE2014 provide the perfect platform for these industry leaders to meet, collaborate and discuss the pertinent issues.