Once a detailed budget has been prepared, the next step is to acquire funds from the appropriate government or non-government source. The success of this process depends on preparing a strong business case and a thorough budget, which are more likely to persuade the funding entities to provide the necessary cash.
The business case needs to clearly set out the costs and benefits of introducing the technology. When there are increased costs, the non-material benefits of the new technology such as increased accuracy, ease of use and efficiency need to be stressed. In other cases, particularly where technological applications replace costly manual processes, thereby substantially reducing expected costs, care needs to be taken to factor all costs into the budget.
It may help to justify a new proposal if the election management body (EMB) is able to identify similar applications successfully in use in other jurisdictions. Pointing to the implementation of similar systems elsewhere serves both to clarify costs and to prove the feasibility of the proposal.
It may be possible in some situations to use innovative funding mechanisms, such as joint ventures or leaseback arrangements, but these mechanisms cannot compromise an EMBs integrity either as a purchaser of goods and services or as an electoral authority.
Once there is an agreement to provide funds, it is important that funding be available to adequately develop, test and implement the new technology. A common, and often disastrous, scenario can occur when funding is provided late in the electoral cycle and there is insufficient time to do the above. The amount of time required for introducing new technology needs to be carefully estimated.
It is useful to learn how long it has taken other EMBs to implement a similar system elsewhere. In general, plenty of time needs to be available, since the implementation of new technology often takes longer than expected.
In some countries EMBs may have the opportunity to seek funding from sources outside normal government channels, such as from other governments or by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In some cases, the acquisition of new technology may only be possible with external assistance. However, care must be taken to avoid compromising the electoral process.
The certainty and timeliness of funding for new technology is crucial. Before committing to new technology, funding for the life of the project needs to be guaranteed, otherwise there is a serious risk that the technology will not be implemented successfully. Similarly, funding has to be available early enough in the election cycle to ensure that the technology can be selected, supplied and tested before an electoral event.
If external funding cannot provide these guarantees, EMBs run a significant risk in using them If the EMB decides that the risks are worth taking, manual back-up processes will be needed to protect against a technology failure that could jeopardise the overall electoral process.
In some cases, external funding may, require that a particular supplier, product or supply source be used. These arrangements should not compromise the EMB integrity either as a purchaser of goods and services or as an electoral authority. In addition these conditions are not supposed to restrict the EMBs ability to service, maintain and upgrade any technology adopted.
If there are funding through foreign currencies, there is a need to take in account that exchange rates fluctuate with a possible impact on the funding value of external assistance. Sufficient funds may need to be available regardless of currency fluctuations.
