Electronic voting in democratic countries

From these two organizations, and on the occasion of the global situation presented by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it was considered appropriate to assess the feasibility of electronic voting and its various nuances. This is because of the possibility it represents to expand the forms of civic participation and move towards non-presential voting mechanisms.

Since in Mexico the experiences with this mechanism are still limited, an invitation was extended to diverse experts at national and international level, with the intention of agglomerating proficiencies that enrich and elevate the level of debate. From Minsait, an Indra company, we participated in this debate, in line with the policy of publishing the possibilities of new technologies to improve democratic systems and their tools.

In May, June and until the beginning of July of this 2020, the events organized completely online, gave rise to the review of international experiences to implement electronic voting. On this occasion, the panel on June 23, in which Minsait participated actively, was about "Remote Direct Democracy by Mobile Phone".

On this occasion, several authorities in the field shared the panel: Maria Macarita Elizondo Gasperin, Electoral Advisor of IFE Mexico (2008-2013); Jesus Hernandez Cabrera, Academic of the Faculty of Higher Studies Aragon (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico); Amaia Espejo Alvarez, Head of Business Development of the Department of Electoral Processes of Minsait, in Spain and Joaquin Lago Perez, Head of Operations of the Department of Electoral Processes in Minsait, also in Spain.

In both Spain and Mexico, the government scenario based on mobile technology services is still virgin territory, despite the technological maturity that citizens have reached and the availability of application development tools.

If we open ourselves up to these tools, other types of questions will arise in the citizenry, such as the dissemination, participation and interest in these mechanisms adapted to mobile phones, and even rethinking the role of political parties as they are known today.

From Minsait, we continue to support the initiatives of dissemination and information on how the new technologies can be incorporated into the current institutional systems, and how they can benefit the different key aspects when evaluating the quality of a democratic system.

You can check out the original blog entry at “Crea Ciudadanía”.