Elections in the 21st Century: The Growing Adoption of Electronic Voting

While demand for accurate election results has led governments to adopt electronic voting technologies, officials must also address concerns about security, privacy and human error. With the heightened awareness around the implementation of e-voting, election officials and legislators must understand the best way forward for using technology to conduct democratic elections.

Report Highlights
In many countries, the act of voting- perhaps the most fundamental right in a democratic society- has become almost completely reliant on technology.

Electronic voting has provided a number of significant benefits for voters and increased efficiencies for election officials.

The success of electronic voting is not simply about technology. Even the most secure voting system will be vulnerable if the appropriate safeguards are not implemented to guard against potential attack. An electronic voting system implementation is only as good as the processes which govern its use.
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Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Key Messages 2
Technology diffusion and the need for election modernization have spurred the adoption of electronic voting 2
Electronic voting facilitates the processes of casting, tabulating and transmitting votes 2
Electronic voting faces issues around security, reliability and transparency 2
Vendors' solutions must pass rigorous testing regimes to be certified for use 2
Strong processes and procedures are key to ensure effective use of voting machines 2
Vendors must demonstrate an understanding of the local markets they are targeting 3
Services will be a key differentiator for voting machine vendors 3
Opportunities exists for collaboration and partnerships with a variety of stakeholders 3
Table of Contents 4
Table of figures 5
Market Opportunity 6
Technology diffusion and election modernization have spurred the adoption of e-voting 6
Advances in technology have led to the adoption of electronic voting in the 21st century 6
In the US, controversy around the 2000 presidential election led to the rapid adoption of electronic voting 6
Electronic voting had been widely adopted in jurisdictions around the world prior to 2000 7
Electronic voting facilitates the processes of casting, tabulating and transmitting votes 8
Optical scanners are an effective technology for counting ballots 9
DRE machines are used to both cast and count ballots 9
At the end of the election, officials tabulate the electronic or paper ballots 11
Internet voting is currently conducted in both controlled and uncontrolled environments 12
Electronic voting is driven by the benefits it provides to voters and election officials 12
Electronic voting systems provide disabled voters with the ability to cast a secret ballot unassisted 12
DRE machines reduce the need to print ballots, leading to risk mitigation and potential cost savings 13
Election officials employ electronic voting systems to produce ballots in multiple languages 13
Electronic voting machines can make ballots easier to read and reduce the likelihood of spoiled ballots 14
Voting machines can improve poll site operations and speed tabulation, leading to reduced costs 14
There are concerns around the security, reliability and transparency of electronic voting systems 15
Security vulnerabilities have been found in voting machines, albeit in controlled environments 15
There have been documented instances of machine malfunction during elections 16
There is a tension between vendors' role as private companies and the transparency required in elections 16
Implementing online voting presents a number of additional benefits and challenges 16
The Internet is a more efficient voting channel than mail for military personnel and citizens living abroad 17
The adoption of national ID cards is driving the adoption of online voting 17
Internet voting has the potential to increase voter participation and social inclusion 17
Internet voting will act as a complement to polling site voting, rather than a replacement 18
Customer Impact: Regulation and Voting System Standards 20
Testing regimes, which machines must pass to be certified for use, have been established 20
Voting systems must provide election officials with reliable and verifiable technology 21
Election officials are increasingly requiring access to voting system source code, or the use of open source 21
Voter verifiability is central in maintaining confidence in an electronic voting solution 21
Election officials are seeking secure and innovative solutions to use technology in elections 22
Strong processes and procedures are key to ensure effective use of voting machines 23
Election officials have established strict security measures and chain of custody procedures 23
Pre-, parallel and post-election audits, and hash testing of voting systems are being widely adopted 24
Well-trained poll workers are essential to the successful operation of voting systems 24
Competitive Landscape 25
The US market for electronic voting machines is dominated by four major vendors 25
Premier Election Solutions 25
Election Systems & Software 26
Hart InterCivic 26
Sequoia Voting Systems 27
A variety of European vendors have a large presence in the global market 27
Nedap Election Systems 27
Scytl 28
Smaller vendors bring valuable and innovative solutions to the market 28
Election Data Services 28
Unisyn 29
SOE Software 29
Saber Government Solutions 29
Go to Market 30
Vendors must demonstrate an understanding of the local markets they are targeting 30
Services will be a key differentiator for voting machine vendors 30
Voting systems must be designed with end-users in mind 31
Vendors must work to build public trust and maximize transparency in the industry 31
Opportunities exists for collaboration and partnerships with a variety of stakeholders 32
Vendors must continue to play an active role in helping the industry to develop standards 32
Opportunities exist for partnerships between large and small vendors 32
Vendors must educate education officials on best practices which mitigate threats to their systems 32
APPENDIX 34
Definitions 34
Methodology 34
Further reading 34
Ask the analyst 35
Datamonitor consulting 35
Disclaimer 35
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Figure 1: Voting systems used in the US by type, 1980-2008 7
Figure 2: The electronic voting readiness index 8
Figure 3: Voting process on a paper-based optical scan voting machine 9
Figure 4: Electronic Voting in India 10
Figure 5: Electronic voting in Brazil 11
Figure 6: Electronic voting provides a number of benefits to voters and election officials 13
Figure 7: Reasons for using online voting, Estonian Parliamentary Election, 2007 18
Figure 8: Electronic voting must ensure a secret ballot, voter anonymity and verifiability 22
Figure 9: Stages of the election process 24
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