Global History of E-Voting and its Future in Pakistan

Faisal ImranDepartment of Computer Science,Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

Introduction

Electronic voting is often seen as a tool for making the electoral process more efficient .e-voting solutions can increase the security of the ballot, speed up the processing of results and make voting easier

IntroductionTypes of e-Voting

Direct Recording Electronics (DRE)E-voting which is physically supervised by representatives of governmental or independent electoral authorities (e.g. electronic voting machines located at polling stations)

Remote e-Voting voting is performed within the voter's sole influence, and is not physically supervised by representatives of governmental authorities (e.g. voting from one's personal computer, mobile phone, television via the internet (also called i-voting or Remote E-Voting)

IntroductionE-Voting Environment

Controlled Environments Seen as the electronic equivalent of traditional paper-based voting in polling stations

Uncontrolled Environmentshappens without any supervision and from voting devices that cannot be controlled by the election administration

Global History

E-Voting Experience• Brazil• India• Belgium• Australia• Italy• Argentina• United Kingdom• Costa Rica• Panama• Spain

E-Voting Strengths• Faster vote count and tabulation• More accurate results as human error is excluded• Efficient handling of complicated electoral

systems • Improved presentation of complicated ballot

papers• Increased convenience for voters• Potentially increased participation and turnout• More attuned to the needs of an increasingly

mobile society

E-Voting Strengths• Prevention of fraud in polling stations and

during the transmission and tabulation of results by reducing human intervention.

• Increased accessibility• Possibility of multilingual user interfaces that

can serve a multilingual electorate better than paper ballots

• Potential long-term cost savings through savings in poll worker time

E-Voting Weakness• Lack of Transparency• Limited openness and understanding of the system for

non-experts • Lack of agreed standards for e-voting systems• Potential violation of the secrecy of the vote• Increased infrastructure and environmental requirements• Increased security requirements for protecting the voting

system • Reduced level of control by the election administration • Limited recount possibilities• Limited support for disable voters• Need for additional voter education campaigns. • Possible conflict with the existing legal framework

Future in Pakistan• Facing an issue of having real democracy• Pakistan’s first step towards e-voting is to

authenticate the voters• NADRA done 86.1 million registration for

election 2013• ECP done door to door verification• World’s largest voter verification is introduced

through SMS

Future in PakistanPreparation of Computerized Electoral Rolls (voter authentication)

37 million unverified voters identified during this process • Phase1• Phase2• Phase3

Future in PakistanDevel op ing E-Voti ng Machine (EVM) Solu tion

• The sys tem aims at ensur ing trans parency and rig ging free elec tions

• Elec tronic thumb ver i fi ca tion of each voter shall be done at the respective polling sta tion

EVM Structure• Voter Iden ti fi ca tion Unit• Vote Casti ng Unit • Result Man age ment Unit

Future in PakistanWeakness that Pakistan not overcome Lack of transparencyLack of agreed standards for e-voting systemsNo Paper audit trailsReduced level of control by the election administration because of high vendor- and/or technology-dependenceMissing support for disable votersNeed for additional voter education campaignsPossible conflict with the existing legal framework

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