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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
The Electoral Modernisation Programmein the United Kingdom
Paul DockerHead of Electoral Modernisation
Department for Constitutional Affairs
CoE ConferenceNovember 2006
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
Vision
Multi-channel elections which:• Meet needs of modern lifestyles• Improve access• Maintain / increase security• Improve administrative efficiency
“A 21st century democracy should provide a variety of ways of voting that reflect modern lifestyles” e-Envoy; In the Service of Democracy – 2002
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
The UK approach
• Trials in binding elections
• Maintaining a healthy scepticism
• Relying heavily on independent evaluation and agreed standards (CoE)
• Developing robust systems & accreditation including use of EML
• Scaling up where opportunities allow and systems require
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
UK Government’s strategy
• A first programme of pilots in binding elections - 2002 to 2005
• leading to extensive e-enabled: • local government elections - 2007 to 2010• Greater London Assembly elections - 2008• Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland Assembly elections?• European Parliamentary elections?
• and leading to an e-enabled general election
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
The benefits of piloting
• Testing in a real world environment
• Learning lessons
• Building for the future:
voter experience
local authority appetite
technical experience
developing political will
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
Electoral Pilots - a brief history
• Since enabling legislation in 2000 over 150 electoral pilot schemes involving some 100 local authorities
• 2003 Electoral Pilots covered over 6.4 million electors in 59 electoral pilots
• 17 (centrally funded) e-voting pilots delivering: Internet, kiosks, SMS, telephone and interactive digital TV
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
2003 Electoral Pilots Summary
• 1.4 million voters able to participate in e-voting pilots
• 27% of voters offered e-voting used the new methods available
• In comparable areas where piloting took place in 2002, voting using e channels increased by over 50%
• 2003 e-voting pilot areas had an average turnout of 37.5% compared to the national average of 33%
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
The ‘hiatus’ in 2004 and 2005
2004 - concentration on all-postal pilots• Ministers keen to use gains in postal voting• Coincided with Birmingham fraud issues
2005 - General election - no power to pilot
Need to address issues around postal voting became a priority
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
Pilot developmentsin May 2006
Concentrated on security and administrative changes plus e-counting
• pilots to improve the security of the election e.g. use of barcodes, signature checking (Contributed to Act in July 2006) ;
• pilots which improved access for electors, e.g. early voting, mobile voting and alternative polling locations;
• pilots which improved administrative efficiency e.g. electronic counting of traditional and/or postal ballots;
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
What we want to test
•Central Procurement•Direction to suppliers – e.g. pre-registration•Testing what we want – e.g. different marks in e-counting, different languages, ensuring accuracy of ballot completion•Procurement based on CoE Standards•2007 onwards we will pilot:
traditional and additional polling stations Remote e-voting – Internet and Telephone voting ‘de-centralisation’ of voting to improve accessibility
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
E-voting - specific issues for UK
• Fraud - increase in Postal Vote security requirements
• Maintaining public confidence in election systems
• Media and perceptions - UK and abroad
• Capacity of local authorities to deliver
• Supply -v- Demand - getting what we want not necessarily what is already available
• Political support
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
S t r e n g t h e n i n g d e m o c r a c y a n d r i g h t sC o n s t i t u t i o n D i r e c t o r a t e
Conclusion
• Looking to push forward on e-voting
• We are focused on addressing the key issues in the current climate - security, perceptions first …. scalability later
• We are looking to learn from recent experiences
• Looking forward to working with you and others
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Strengthening democracy and rightsConstitution Directorate
Contacts:
[email protected]+44 (0)20 7210 8221
[email protected]+44 (0)20 7210 8308