All countries in the Council of Europe region use some kind of digital technology in elections. They may use digital solutions for purposes such as voter registration, the administration of voters’ list, vote tallying, the transmission of results, voting in polling stations (e-voting machines) or from home (internet voting). Some of the digital solutions work off-line (e.g. scanners to count ballots), others make use of the internet (e.g. online accessible voters’ registers, internet-based results’ transmission or voting systems, etc.).
The 15th European Conference of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) that took place in Oslo (19-20 April 2018) dealt with the issue of security in elections. Electoral security was approached from different perspectives with a focus on secure use of digital technologies. I discussed “The contribution of the Council of Europe in establishing international norms and standards to ensure secure use of new technologies in elections” (see first plennary session, link to the presentation).
