Citizen 2.0

A week in e-democracy: from the Swedish citizen tweet to anonymous threats

The world's most democratic Twitter experiment in Sweden?
BBC relays this amazing initiative launched by Visit Sweden with the Swedish Institute [governmental agency for the promotion of Sweden]. They have ceded control of the Twitter account @Sweden to a panel of Swedish since mid-December. What is undoubtedly a clever publicity stunt does also appear to be the "democratic experiment" it claims to be. Tweets are not censored and are by no means all positive. So, democracy or publicity?

London defend its reuse of electronic vote counting
The Greater London Authority has defended its reuse of electronic vote counting for the 2012 mayoral and assembly member elections following the renewal of allegations from one analyst that such systems are less secure and not worth their cost. The vote will be complex: on 3 May, Londoners will cast four votes on three ballot papers, each using a different electoral system. They will elect the Mayor of London and 25 members of the London Assembly for 14 constituency contests and a proportional representation system for 11 London-wide members. If turnout is similar to 2008, a total of almost 8 million ballots will be counted. “We think this marginal price difference in 2012 is a price worth paying for a quicker and more accurate count”, Euan Holloway, spokesperson for London Elects, told E-Government Bulletin this month. A traditional manual count would take four days, but an electronic count can produce a result within 12 hours, he said.

Anonymous' reaction raises many questions
Retaliation launched by the anonymous, which blocked many websites of government agencies, media or cultural industries in the world, after the close of the Megaupload platform by the American justice, raises many question about the powers and the might of anonymous. Despite the charges against Megaupload (the indictment is available online), accused of organizing a "Mega Conspiracy, criminal organization with global ramifications," why the anonymous set themselves as judges? In democracy, these attacks should not it concern us?

# Jan25, like a digital Bastille day?
According to LSE scholar Charlie Beckett, quoted by France 24, January 25 provided the Bastille moment of the Egyptian revolution, meaning it created a symbol that was simple and potent enough for everyone to rally behind it – much as the fall of the Bastille prison had done for the French Revolution in 1789. One year after the beginning of the egyptian revolution, the hashtag #Jan25 became the symbol of an entire movement and perhaps the most famous hashtag ever on micro-blogging site Twitter.

India Prime Minister joins Twitter
Or rather, his press service, which has just opened an account @PMOIndia (Prime Minister Office of India), showing its determination to approach the people. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is indeed often criticized for its inaccessibility. Journalists are clearly the target, in a country with less than 10% of Internet users, according to the Canadian Sherbrooke University. To read in India Today.

News on e-voting in France

The primary election organized by the French Green party, Génération Ecologie, in order to designate its candidate in the presidential election of April 2012, take place from 15th to 23rd of June, for the first round and from 30th June to 6th July for the second round. Interested voters can cast their votes either by mail or over Internet. This represents a real cultural revolution for a party that has been, for a long time, a fierce opposer to e-voting.

Voters received by mail a user name and a password allowing them to vote in the two election rounds. In case of a double vote cast (both by mail and over the Internet), it is the electronic ballot which is taken into consideration.

The company Extelia, a subsidiary of La Poste (the French postal operator), was chosen to carry out the Internet ballot casting process. Specialist of complex information systems based on the treatment of sensitive data, Extelia has developed with EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) an efficient, reliable and acknowledged solution of Internet voting.

Even if the debate remains fierce within the party, the choice of electronic voting marks a significant step in the evolution of mentalities. This follows upon the widespread Internet voting implemented by the state of Geneva in Switzerland, the first constituency in the world to have deployed this new kind of voting. Indeed, on May 15th, 1 voter out of 4 cast a ballot online.

In Estonia as well, 1 elector out of 5 had cast his/her vote online during the general election beginning of March. The Baltic country is the first one to have generalized Internet voting for all kinds of elections.

Internet voting: 3 European countries in line for 2011

2011 will mark an important step in the evolution of electronic voting. Three European countries will be in fact directly affected by this voting method. While the Estonians will use e-voting during the general elections for the second time in a row, Swiss voters will continue debating on the matter and test e-voting in certain pilot cantons during their general elections. Last but not least, Norway will, for the first time, conduct e-voting trials and plans to select pilot cities during the municipal elections next September.

Dilma Rousseff elected Brazil’s president, with 56% of the votes cast…electronically!

The election of Dilma Rousseff as the first female president of one of the world’s largest democracies is among the most outstanding examples on the use of electronic voting. More than 106 million voters, which means a voter turnout of 78 % in the second round, cast their votes via electronic voting machines, without anybody raising doubts on the sincerity of the ballot.

Precisely 187 foreign observers from 45 countries have overseen the elections, according to Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal. The use of electronic voting machines, in place since 1996, but also of biometric voting machines allowing voter identification by their fingerprints stirs up the curiosity of western countries where pressure groups object to electronic usage in elections, forbidding in that respect the modernization of the electoral process.

Electronic voting opponents were rather discreet by the way during the course of this campaign. The left-wing positioning of the newly elected Rousseff, successor of outgoing President Lula da Silva, has without doubt something to do with it.

• Elections in Brazil

3-day conference on electronic voting

From 21st to 24th of July 2010, international experts will discuss electronic voting in Bregenz, Austria, on the banks of Lake Constance. Jointly organized by the Council of Europe and e-voting.cc, the conference proposes a seven session program and will review the latest e-voting experiments. At the heart of discussions: security, confidence and transparency issues surrounding the electronic voting.

http://www.e-voting.cc/topics/conference2010

London looks again at e-voting

Suspicion about possible voting fraud and shocking scenes of voters being turned away from some understaffed polling stations have sparked debate among certain British people, of whom online information website PublicTechnology.net, which questions about a possible new thought for e-voting. Has the 6 May UK Election revealed the obsolescence of an electoral system dating back to the Victorian era? Adopting the electronic vote is far from having unanimous support.

Norway will test e-voting

The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development will carry out e-voting pilots during the local elections in September 2011 with a purpose to establish a secure electronic solution that facilitates democracy. A point presented as key element by Oslo: "the current high level of reliability in the holding of elections, based on the principle of the secret ballot, must be confirmed".

The Modern Democracy Magazine No. 2 is available

The new issue of "Modern Democracy" is available for download in .pdf format on the website e-Voting.cc.

Most interesting articles: Wahl-O-Mat, a german voting navigator, state-of-the-art of e-Voting worldwide or about securisation  of voting technology. According to Robert Krimmer, Managing Director of e-voting.cc, 2,000 subscribers worldwide have been registered since the first edition, last spring.

• To download

New French experience of e-voting

On 7 June, the French resident in Africa and America were invited to elect councilors who represent them in the French Abroad Assembly. Approximately 9% of voters have expressed their choice by Internet, an option now available for all french citizens living abroad, following the publication of an official decree.

European Elections: 15% of Estonians voters have voted by Internet

Estonia was the only EU country to allow Internet voting for the European Parliament elections, last June 7. Over than 58 000 voters used e-voting, which is 15% of all the people who voted. The e-voting system has been in Estonia under development since 2002 with the final pilot held at the end of 2004. It has been several times presented at the World eDemocracy Forum. In 2005 the system was used for the first time for local government council elections. In 2007, for the first time in the world it was possible in Estonia to vote online also in parliamentary elections.