ACEEEO Association of European Election Officials discussions on e-voting

1. Council of Europe Meeting to Review Developments in e-voting November16-17 2010. ACEEEO Association of European Election Officialsdiscussions on e-voting Jenő Szép

2. Introduction to ACEEEO Founded in 1991 The aim of founding ACEEEO was to provide a forum for the exchange of information on election and political processes among election officials and scientific experts. ACEEEO is a non-governmental organization, operating independently of parties and governments.

3. Goals fromulated in 1991 • Fostering transparent election systems, • Discussing problems encountered during the institutionalisation of free, democratic and fair elections, • Inviting election observers to countries on a mutual basis so as to increase common professional knowledge, and • Sharing information among the members in order to aid the further development of democratic electoral processes.

4. Members organizations are from 24 countries Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, and also we have Afghanistan in an observer status Annual conferences are organized since 1991 and we have numerous other activities

5. Some conferences: “Media and Elections & E-voting” London, UK 2003 - Two plenary sessions and a workshop on e-voting, exhibition and presentations by the Suppliers of Election Equipment and Services

6. RECOMMENDATIONON E-VOTING, (Adopted by the General Assembly of the ACEEEO on 25 October 2003) 1. In the modernization process of governments utilization of new and innovative technologies should be encouraged. Governments’ commitment is necessary in this direction. 2. It is necessary to use computer technology in all segments of an election system. This is considered as the development of e-election. E-voting is an important part of e-election, and can be carried out when all the other segments of the election system are already computerized.

7. 3. Election management bodies should develop detailed plans to implement any e-election systems. Information technology used for e-voting purposes should be introduced gradually, thus gaining the confidence of both election officials and voters. It is advisable to start with pilot projects and extend the system thereafter. The advised sequence of introducing e-voting technologies is to start at the most controlled environment (polling stations) and move to remote voting afterwards. 4. When considering an e-voting system it is necessary to comply with the legal, operational and technical standards for e-voting prepared by the Council of Europe and planned to be adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2004. The considered e-voting system need to be adequately legitimized by the electoral law and precise by-laws thereto at the national level. 5. The e-election development should be completed within 5 to 10 years depending on the member country’s specific system of election and infrastructure.

8. “Voter Turnout with special regard to the first time voters” Tirana, Albania 2004 -Workshop on e-voting, Exhibition and presentations by the Suppliers of Election Equipment and Services „Legal remedies in the election processesStandards of electronic voting” Siófok, Hungary 2005 (also a conference of Global Election Organization) - Plenary session and workshop on e-voting, exhibition and presentations by the Suppliers of Election Equipment and Services

9. RECOMMENDATION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF E-VOTING (Adopted by the Conference of Global Election Organizations and General Assembly of the ACEEEO in Siófok, Hungary on 17 September 2005) The Conference of Global Election Organizations and General Assembly Meeting of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO), call on their Members to take measures where appropriate to promote the introduction of e-voting technologies in the voting process as follows:

10. 1. Members shall establish an international cooperation to create common perspective and a common vision for the development of e-democracy and e-voting. This will support sharing of information and, in particular, enable the setting out of the possible directions, the identification of best practices and the provision of guidance. The result of the joint work should be an e-democracy route map which can be utilised by Member states.Advantages of this international co-operation:• greater public confidence in e-voting systems• greater confidence in e-voting systems among politicians• enhance interoperability• speed up the introduction of e-voting• minimize the cost of the introduction of e-voting

11. 2. It is advised that election authorities develop a national plan for the modernization of the election process that includes e-voting. Such plans can be integrated into national strategies on the development of e-government. 3. The planned e-voting systems should respect the obligations and commitments of the accepted basic international documents on democratic elections, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, adopted by the Council for democratic elections of the Council of Europe and the European Commission for Democracy through Law, the document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the OSCE. 4. Before introducing e-voting, according to national requirements, members should take the necessary steps to create the national legislative background to enable the introduction of e-voting technologies in the voting process.

12. 5. Before introducing e-voting the election management bodies should develop a detailed plan to implement any e-election systems. The plan should respect the followings:• Special attention has to be paid to develop public confidence, and the confidence of political parties.• It is essential to define and communicate the vision of e-voting. Make the vision citizen-centered, define priority areas and timing.• To insure the integrity of any e-voting technology, an adequate security system should be developed. • Use a step-by-step introduction of e-voting technologies. It is recommended that this is done in a progressive manner, to develop the new system incrementally to meet the arising requirements. In the early phases of development the new system should be used parallel to the conventional one. 6. The e-voting system used at political elections or referenda should comply with the existing internationally accepted standards for e-voting. 7. Members should inform each other about challenges, difficulties and achievements in order to support the effective and efficient development of e-voting systems.

13. “ Legal and Technical Aspects of National Referendum” Jurmala, Latvia 2006 - Plenary session on e-voting “Professional education of electoral actors” Strasbourg, France 2007 “Ensuring Security of elections” Constanta, Romania 2008 - A presentation on IT security of elections “Judicial protections of electoral rights” Yerevan, Armenia 2009 “Developing Accurate Voter Lists” Tbilisi, Georgia 2010 – Presentation on e-voting enabled voter’s list

14. Some recent activities: • Developing accurate voters’ list in transitional democracies • analysis of voters’ registration • preparation of a document concentrating on the best practices • conference focusing on the registration of voters • Youth voters' education • handbook on youth voters’ education • first time voters in the House of the Nation • the www.firstvoter.org website is launched

15. The Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) organizes an internationalconference from 15-18 June 2011 in Budapest, Hungary in the last month of the Hungarian presidency of the European Union to commemorate the 20anniversary of the ACEEEO.