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E-voting in SA: 'Not so fast'

Tyson Ngubeni
By Tyson Ngubeni
Johannesburg, 21 Nov 2014
Namibia is the first African country to integrate technology into its voting process.
Namibia is the first African country to integrate technology into its voting process.

Although the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and government have for years mulled over introducing electronic voting (e-voting) in SA, recent calls for the technology's implementation have been met with warnings that the country may not be ready.

The SA Press Association yesterday quoted professor Mzamo Alexander Gumbi as telling a panel interviewing candidates for the position of IEC commissioner that SA should start looking at ways to integrate e-voting "right now".

Gumbi said if Namibia can introduce e-voting for upcoming general elections later this month - then SA must prove itself as a developing country that "is not standing still". The Namibian elections will integrate electronic voting machines at polling stations, allowing voters to press a button with the corresponding political party or candidate of their choice.

Not so fast

But analysts caution against drawing comparisons with neighbouring countries, owing to SA's vastly different social landscape. Mark Walker, director of insights and vertical industries at the IDC for Middle East, Turkey and Africa, says Namibia has a far smaller population, government, fewer political parties and less complexity than the situation in SA. "To rush in for fear of 'falling behind' as a key motivation would be very poor practice indeed."

Instead, adds Walker, "government should assess the security, integrity, robustness and accuracy of possible voting systems available" and also learn from countries that have implemented e-voting to understand best practice before selection of suppliers and implementation.

"The danger is to be swayed by vendors or popular opinion into a situation where this homework is not done upfront with dire consequences afterwards. Similarly an extensive education process to allay voter fears and ensure technical proficiency is an essential prerequisite for successful deployment - especially in a volatile political environment such as SA," he added.

IEC legwork

In March last year, the IEC held a seminar to assess the feasibility of e-voting in SA by drawing on lessons learned from comparative experiences of countries such as Brazil, India, Ireland and the Philippines. The countries have had mixed results, with prospects in the first two described as successful, while e-voting was abandoned in Ireland as well as Germany.

The main recommendations to emerge from the seminar included:
* The IEC should not rush to implement an e-voting system but should consider all aspects of such a system, including the larger population.
* Technology should be created for the e-voting process that will enhance the experience for South African voters.
* SA is a young democracy and the e-voting process should not compete with other important national agendas.

ICT veteran Adrian Schofield noted South Africans trust the current system of voting, which works the same in the city suburbs as it does in the rural villages. "Going the electronic route before we have reliable power supplies and communications networks across the country would introduce new challenges and reduce the level of trust.

"We have to achieve much greater progress towards the elusive "information society" and "knowledge economy" status before we will collectively be comfortable with e-everything," he added.

At the time of publication, IEC CIO Libisi Maphanga had yet to respond to ITWeb's queries for comment on the commission's plans.

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