Top tips is a weekly column where we highlight what’s trending in the tech world today and list ways to explore these trends. This week, we’ll look at four ways IT is transforming the electoral process.
Just two weeks ago, the world witnessed, with eager anticipation, the 2024 United States (US) presidential election unfold on their TV screens and mobile devices, some for the theatrics of it and others fully understanding the ripple effect that the outcome could have on their own lives.
While the show must go on atop the stage of the political theater, little is known about the cogs and wheels that keep turning in the back to ensure a smooth, efficient, and fair electoral process. Technology plays an important role in optimizing this process, making it easier for people to participate as voters and for election body members to help register voters and count actual votes.
The role of technology in the electoral process cannot be overstated as it has helped greatly reduce fraud and provide more scope for free and fair elections. In this article, we’ll look at four ways IT is transforming the electoral process into a well-oiled machine.
1. Electronic voting and counting
A prime example of making a process more effective, electronic voting machines (EVMs) can quickly capture and record votes while limiting the number of votes for users. Traditional paper ballots can be time consuming to count, and EVMs have significantly reduced the time taken to count ballots and ascertain results.
Some regions in the US also allow for voters to cast their votes online. Voters create an account with authentication and can view the ballot online. They can then select their preferred candidate and submit their choice after one final confirmation. This is particularly useful for overseas voters, but it does raise multiple security concerns in the process.
2. Cybersecurity measures
The modern political ecosystem is becoming increasingly polarizing with each passing day. With more people today eager to take sides, it is becoming quite evident that either side could go to any means to disrupt or manipulate the electoral process and influence the outcome.
Phishing emails are common, where election officials are tricked into revealing sensitive information, leaving the official accounts compromised and giving unauthorized access to election databases. With unlimited voter database access, hackers can steal or alter information; cause voter suppression, i.e, removing voters from lists; or steal personal information, leading to identity theft.
Multi-factor authentication and strong encryption are essential to keep official accounts secure and protect election databases. This is why it is important for governments and electoral bodies to work with cybersecurity companies to establish protocols to identify and respond to threats in a timely and effective manner.
3. Awareness creation and public engagement
It is every citizen’s duty to go out and cast their vote during an election. In the 2020 US presidential elections, about 66% of the eligible voting population came out to cast their vote. Some countries, like Switzerland and Colombia, where the voter turnout is less than 50% of the eligible voting population, could use the help of IT to create awareness and drum up political support from their citizens.
Official election websites can provide users with all the information required to cast a vote, including information on the voter registration process, locations of polling booths, deadlines, and candidate details. Outreach campaigns on TV and social media can be tailor-made to suit the targeted demographics, encouraging voter participation and educating voters on key election details. By partnering with independent fact-checking platforms, IT platforms can curb misinformation and promote better decision-making.
4. Electoral process transparency
Transparency helps build trust in the electoral process among the general population. IT can help reduce the potential for errors, combat misinformation, and create a transparent process to help gain public trust.
Digital voting systems like EVMs which rely on optical scanners to digitally count votes can transmit this data from polling stations to central servers, greatly reducing the time taken for election bodies to report results through live dashboards with real-time updates. Some election bodies set up websites where users can view detailed results by region and candidate. Some even allow for digital access where voters can actually view the counting process of their votes in real time so that the process remains transparent.
The results are in
IT has been integral in optimizing many private and public sector verticals over the years, and it’s only natural that the electoral process too gets bit by this digital transformation bug. In the next few years, we are poised to see the impact that current-gen technologies such as AI will have on the process, and in the next few years, we will be lucky to see future technologies like quantum computing also have a profound and indelible impact. Technology has and will continue to keep elections free and fair as long as it is harnessed with good intentions.
