e-Voting conference: (Left to right) Chief of Staff from the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) in the DRC, Dieudonné N. Tshiyoyo, Director of Operations Electoral Commission of Namibia, Zenia Klazen, and session facilitator, Dr Tumelontle Thiba, North-West PEO at the IEC.
Image: IEC/Supplied
The second day of the electronic voting (e-voting) for South Africa conference, running until 12 March 2024, saw electoral officers from Estonia, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo address the conference on their experience of using e-voting.
The conference is based on research commissioned by the Commission and undertaken by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and will serve as a pivotal platform for initiating a public conversation about the possibility of introducing electronic voting sometime in the future.
The morning started with a discussion that included Estonia’s Head of State Electoral Office, Arne Koitmäe, Director of Operations at the Electoral Commission of Namibia, Zenia Klazen, and the Chief of Staff from the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) in the DRC, Dieudonné N. Tshiyoyo
Koitmäe explained that Estonia has a population of about 1.37 million people, and that voting takes place over the course of a week, as opposed to South Africa which votes on one day.
The country uses an internet e-voting system where the people vote from their location, they can vote as many times as they want - but only the last vote will be counted - and that their voting takes place over a week.
“We want people to have as many opportunities as possible (to vote), and if we limit it to one day, then there are people who are unable to vote… During this period of voting, then people can vote outside their constituency and vote anywhere in Estonia.
“It is more work for us but it provides more voting opportunities for voters.”
Koitmäe explained that there are virtually no queues as most people have then voted during the week, in the lead up to their designated election on Sunday. He did explain that the internet voting is however cancelled if someone has voted on a physical ballot paper.
Estonian voters are responsible for their own cyber hygiene when they vote, ensuring that their computers are safe from malware and viruses. They have had their current system from 2017, and have guaranteed vote secrecy as the process uses vote encryption.
In terms of impact, there has been minimal impact on increased participation, i-voters are more likely to use internet voting in future. It has not had any impact on youth voter participation, and it is the most popular method since 2019.
Klazen explained that in Namibia their e-voting includes punched cards, optical scan systems, direct-recording electronic systems (DREs) and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
They use supervised electronic voting, where voting takes place in the presence of representatives of electoral authorities (e.g. electronic voting machines located at polling stations).
She explained that the primary motivation for introducing EVMs came from the negative experiences with the national elections of 2000, 2004 and 2009.
The introduction of the EVM’s in Namibia enhanced the polling process with respect to faster vote count and tabulation, accurate results (human error is excluded), increased convenience for voters, and also long-term cost saving, as the same machines can be used in all subsequent elections for the foreseeable future.
“The most important advantage is that the printing of millions of ballot papers can be dispensed with, as only one ballot paper is required for fixing on the Balloting Unit at each polling station instead of one ballot paper for each individual elector,” Klazen said.
Another advantage Klazen said was the potential long-term cost savings through savings in poll worker time, and reduced costs for the production and distribution of ballot papers.
Ultimately what they learned was that the roll-out of new technologies should not be done without proper consultation, pilot/testing and simulation exercises where necessary.
“It is very important to have Plan B in place in case the new technology fails. Adequate time is needed before elections to fully operationalize and publicize (including through voter and civic education) any new legal provisions among stakeholders in particular the electorate, including the use of electronic and technological devices,” Klazen said.
In the DRC, Tshiyoyo said that they adopted e-voting after facing a number of challenges with paper-based systems in the 2006 and 2011 elections. Particularly in the 2011 elections, the DRC made the Guinness Book of Records for their 30-page ballot paper which was the size of a flip chart.
The issues with this included the time and cost involved in printing such ballot papers, and the lengthy time it took for people to vote.
In 2018, they included the use of e-voting with, and continued the use in 2023. Tshiyoyo said that the adoption of e-voting allowed for one single and uniform ballot paper for each poll, allowed for a quick and straightforward counting process, and made for an efficient and speedy transmission of results and reports.
Especially as they went from 35,000 candidates in 2018, to more than 101,000 candidates for the four polls organized in December 2023.
Tshiyoyo explained that some of the challenges they faced were: related to the use and the performance of EVDs, low digital literacy (especially in rural areas), data security concerns – vulnerability to hacking, challenges with mobility and storage, and also theft and vandalism of election materials, including malicious destruction EVDs.
Ultimately, Tshiyoyo said that e-voting in the DRC has more gains than shortcomings. While the system needs to be constantly assessed and reviewed, it has automated printing of voting and counting reports, and also allowed for real-time or batch transmission of election results.
theolin.tembo@inl.co.za