Trust in electronic vote counting
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Malta’s electoral system is complex and depends on an elaborate vote counting process that usually takes days to declare the winners of an election. So, when both main political parties agreed to introduce an electronic vote-scanning system as from the nexTrust in electronic vote counting
Malta’s electoral system is complex and depends on an elaborate vote counting process that usually takes days to declare the winners of an election. So, when both main political parties agreed to introduce an electronic vote-scanning system as from the next European Parliament and local council elections in May 2019, many had hoped the tense few days after the election would become a thing of the past. Election results should be known within six hours of the start of vote counting. However, doubts have now been expressed on how well the Electoral Commission has overseen the project, whereby two international IT companies would provide the e-counting technology and security systems. When the new system was stress-tested, a staggering 40 per cent of the ballot sheets were rejected and had to be scrutinised manually to determine the voting intentions of voters. A second test was conducted following some software changes made by the technology companies. The failure rate of the vote scanners fell but was still considered high, at about 20 per cent. Nationalist Party secretary general Clyde Puli expressed concern on some issues relating to project. He said there were various... Read more