Introducing Electronic Voting

Electronic voting is often seen as a tool for making the electoral process more efficient and for increasing trust in its management. Properly implemented, e-voting solutions can increase the security of the ballot, speed up the processing of results and make voting easier. However, the challenges are considerable. If not carefully planned and designed, e-voting can undermine the confidence in the whole electoral process. Technology upgrades in elections are always challenging projects that require careful deliberation and planning. Introducing e-voting is probably the most difficult upgrade as this technology touches the core of the entire electoral process—the casting and counting of the votes. E-voting greatly reduces direct human control and influence in this process. This provides an opportunity for solving some old electoral problems, but also introduces a whole range of new concerns. Consequently, e-voting usually triggers more criticism and opposition and is more disputed than any other information technology application in elections. This Policy Paper outlines contextual factors that can influence the success of e-voting solutions and highlights the importance of considering these factors before choosing to introduce new voting technologies.

The use of electronic voting systems has caused controversy in the media and among the general public, and has even come under the scrutiny of the law courts. it has become clear that the uncertainties surrounding the introduction of e-voting are rarely of a technical nature, but primarily raise political and societal concerns. The key issue is to ensure that the principles of free and fair elections are upheld, regardless of the voting method chosen. This handbook is written for governments and organisations considering whether or not to conduct e-voting pilot schemes and trials or to make e-voting a feature of their electoral system. it reviews relevant issues such as building and safeguarding trust in the system, The value of open-source software And The implications of a voter verifiable audit paper trail. Concrete e-voting issues are discussed in the framework of the electoral cycle. This handbook can be used as a stand-alone guide, but governments or organisations would benefit most by consulting it in conjunction with Recommendation Rec(2004)11 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on legal, operational and technical standards for e-voting

Many election officials look to electronic voting systems as a means for improving their ability to more effectively conduct and administer elections. At the same time, many information technologists and activists have raised important concerns regarding the security of such systems. Policy makers are caught in the midst of a controversy with both political and technological overtones. The public debate about electronic voting is characterized by a great deal of emotion and rhetoric. Asking the Right Questions About Electronic Voting describes the important questions and issues that election officials, policy makers, and informed citizens should ask about the use of computers and information technology in the electoral processâ€"focusing the debate on technical and policy issues that need resolving. The report finds that while electronic voting systems have improved, federal and state governments have not made the commitment necessary for e-voting to be widely used in future elections. More funding, research, and public education are required if e-voting is to become viable.

In modern electoral processes, Information and Communication Technologies play a crucial role, whether used in voter registration, ballot casting, or processing of results. Securing these systems is a necessary step in ensuring the fairness of the democratic process. Design, Development, and Use of Secure Electronic Voting Systems analyzes current research on the integration of modern technologies with traditional democratic systems, providing a framework for designing and deploying electronic voting systems in any context or society. Stakeholders, researchers, architects, designers, and scholars interested in the use of electronic systems in government processes will use this book to gain a broader understanding of some of the latest advances in this emerging field.

E-voting is the use of electronic means in the casting of the vote at political elections or referendums. This book provides an overview of e-voting related case-law worldwide and explains how judicial decisions impact e-voting development. With contributions by renowned experts on thirteen countries, the authors discuss e-voting both from controlled environments, such as voting machines in polling stations, and uncontrolled ones, including internet voting. Each chapter examines a group of country-specific leading judicial decisions on e-voting and their likely impact on its future development. Reference is made to emerging standards on e-voting such as the Recommendation Rec(2004)11 of the Council of Europe, the only international instrument on e-voting regulation, and to other countries' case-law. The work provides a broader, informative and easily accessible perspective on the historical, political and legal aspects of an otherwise very technical subject, and contributes to a better understanding of the significance of case law and its impact in shaping e-voting's future development. The book will be significantly useful to anyone with an interest in e-voting, in particular decision makers and officials, researchers and academia, as well as NGOs and providers of e-voting solutions.

Electronic voting has a young and attractive history, both in the design of basic cryptographic methods and protocols and in the application by communities who are in the vanguard of technologies. The crucial aspect of security for electronic voting systems is subject to research by computer scientists as well as by legal, social and political scientists. The essential question is how to provide a trustworthy base for secure electronic voting, and hence how to prevent accidental or malicious abuse of electronic voting in elections. To address this problem, Volkamer structured her work into four parts: "Fundamentals" provides an introduction to the relevant issues of electronic voting. "Requirements" contributes a standardized, consistent, and exhaustive list of requirements for e-voting systems. "Evaluation" presents the proposal and discussion of a standardized evaluation methodology and certification procedure called a core Protection Profile. Finally, "Application" describes the evaluation of two available remote electronic voting systems according to the core Protection Profile. The results presented are based on theoretical considerations as well as on practical experience. In accordance with the German Society of Computer Scientists, Volkamer succeeded in specifying a "Protection Profile for a Basic Set of Security Requirements for Online Voting Products," which has been certified by the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology. Her book is of interest not only to developers of security-critical systems, but also to lawyers, security officers, and politicians involved in the introduction or certification of electronic voting systems.