Recommendations of the Council of Europe regarding electronic voting (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
The Council of Europe 2004 Recommendation on e-voting (Rec(2004)11) is a soft law instrument containing legal, operational and technical standards for e-voting. An ad-hoc Committee of Experts on E-voting (CAHVE) started work on its update in 2015. This paper focuses on the place of Rec(2004)11 in the regulatory framework for e-voting as well as on issues related to its update. We discuss the main results of the first phase of the update and some specific legal questions related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in elections. The main challenge for such an instrument is to fully and correctly translate broader principles of the European Electoral Heritage into standards and requirements for e-voting that remain pertinent as technology evolves.
Legality, separation of powers, stability of electoral law: The impact of new voting technologies
2016
Legality, separation of powers and stability of electoral law are some of the principles of the European constitutional heritage. They should be respected and implemented throughout the electoral process, including when new voting technologies are used. This paper discusses e-voting specific implementations of the principles or challenges to it. Ongoing and proposed improvements in legislation or practice are pinpointed.
Electronic Voting: Constitutional and Legal Requirements, and Their Technical Implications
This paper provides a systematic overview of the major constitutional and legalaspects of e-voting, together with their technical implications. All democracy-oriented legal and constitutional requirements of an Internet-based voting system are identified. Such a voting system has to comply with these, in order to encourage and promote the participation of citizens, without violating any of their fundamental rights (privacy, anonymity, equality, etc.).
2017
The Council of Europe is the only international organization to have issued recommendations on the regulation of the use of e-voting. The 2004 Recommendation to member States, Rec(2004)11 and the two 2010 Guidelines on certification and on transparency were recently repealed and replaced by Rec (2017)5 on Standards for e-voting and the associated Guidelines on its implementation. We discuss the 2017 Recommendation and the main novelties introduced by it. The Recommendation extends the definition of e-voting to include pure e-counting. It enlists 49 standards which set objectives that e-voting should fulfill to comply with the principles and conditions for democratic elections of the European electoral heritage. Detailed guidelines for the implementation of the objectives are collected in a lower level document, the Guidelines on the implementation of the provisions of Rec(2017)5. The guidelines are expected to be completed through further work. The main differences between the old a...
Potential and challenges of e-voting in the European Union.pdf
Study Report, 2016
This study was commissioned and supervised by the European Parliament’s Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the AFCO Committee. It addresses the potentials and challenges of the implementation of Internet voting in European Parliament elections. It considers the social, political, legal, and technological implications of its introduction as an alternative to on-paper ballot and builds on the recent experience of previous trials and successful e-enabled elections to issue technical recommendations regarding Internet voting in the European Union.
The application of internet in electoral procedures: a theoretical perspective. The case of e-voting
From the 1970s, the world has been undergoing the so-called “digital revolution” generally understood as the change from the me chanical and electronic technologies to the high tech, digital ones. The role of ICT has so gained in importance that some theoreticians of democracy speak of the necessity of paradigm changing as regards both the understanding of a democratic system and introdu-cing the notion of electronic democracy (e-democracy). The aim of this text is analyzing the electronic voting (e-voting) as one of important forms of electronic democracy. The article attempts at approaching several research questions. First, what is the impact of ICT on voting procedures? Secondly, what is the essence of electronic voting and what are its main features? Finally, what are the advantages and fears related to e-voting systems? This paper gives a theoretical overview of the electronic democracy and electronic voting, and demonstrates their essence, characteristics, goals. The author tries to present and critically assess the main drawbacks and problems of the existing e-voting systems. The theoretical considerations framework is based mainly on the concept of electronic democracy created by Martin Hagen. With reference to electronic voting, the author of this article uses definitions as given either by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, or the Competence Center for Electronic Voting and Participation. She also uses definitions constructed by Andrzej Kaczmarczyk, an e-voting expert.