Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 12/5/2007
Developing a Methodology for Observing Electronic Voting
October 2007
Abstract
The increasing use of new electronic voting (e-voting) technologies in elections around the world has been recognized by the international election observation community as one of the paramount challenges facing election observation today. As a whole, international election observation organizations have had relatively little experience observing elections in which e-voting technologies are used. In addition, the inherent lack of transparency of electronic voting technologies discourages easy observation.
E-voting systems thus pose important and unique challenges for election observers: How can observers assess the workings of electronic systems where the processes of vote counting and tabulation are often invisible? What aspects of traditional observation remain relevant for e-voting observation? What can and should be observed in the automated or e-voting systems? What are the critical and essential access points in e-voting processes that observers need in order to assess the integrity of the voting exercise? Does e-voting present new dynamics or challenges for the interrelationships between relevant stakeholders such as vendors, legislators, election officials, and others? Are there unique legal or legislative implications for e-voting systems?
To address some of these questions, The Carter Center has embarked on a two-year initiative aimed at developing an effective methodology for observing elections in which electronic voting technologies are used. On Nov. 2, 2006, The Carter Center hosted the first activity of this initiative—a small workshop of representatives of election observation organizations and e-voting experts aimed at fostering collaborative discussion and the development of a draft methodology for observing electronic voting. This meeting, called “Developing a Draft Methodology for Observing Electronic Voting Technologies,” built on the results of a previous workshop hosted by the Center in 2005 on the challenges posed by electronic voting technologies.
Shortly after the November 2006 meeting, The Carter Center deployed a specialized technical mission to Venezuela to observe the use of electronic voting in its Dec. 3, 2006, presidential election and to conduct a preliminary field test of the methodology. Following the Venezuela mission, Carter Center staff and consultants worked to update and revise the methodology. The Center plans to test the draft methodology in at least two additional pilot missions.
This short document, with the attached revised draft observation forms, summarizes the discussions of the November 2006 meeting, the methodological findings of the technical mission to Venezuela, and subsequent efforts by Carter Center staff to revise the draft methodology for observing electronic voting.1
