Need for a technology based solution
Infrastructure Considerations
Readiness to Assimilate Technology
Need for a technology based solution
Technology is not necessarily the solution to every electoral administration problem. While technology often enables administrative, financial and electoral processes to run faster, more efficiently and more effectively, it can also be costly and fail to live up to expectations.
Manual, non-technological processes may still have a place in electoral administration. Depending on the environment and available infrastructures, manual processes may be cheaper, more transparent and less likely to fail than technological ones. Particularly, where access to technology is not widely available or is unreliable it can create an unequal situation among users (particularly voters). In other cases a technological solution might not be sustainable in the long term, or legislative barriers may prevent the adoption of technology.
Electoral management bodies (EMBs) may want to assess the suitability of a proposed technology before it is adopted. This includes analysing the costs and benefits, determining the availability of skills to implement and run the technology and ascertaining the likelihood that potential users will accept the new technology.
It is essential for EMBs to consider the physical infrastructure and socio-political environment of a country before choosing a new technology, since these factors may limit the appropriateness of some technologies. A country with an intermittent power supply, for example, may not be the best location to implement a wide area computer network that requires a reliable power source. High humidity or high levels of dust or sand may also restrict the choice of technology. Furthermore, an electoral process may be disrupted if there is a deep distrust of technology by election stakeholders.
Infrastructure Considerations
Some of the infrastructures to take into consideration to ensure that the chosen technological solution performs adequately under local conditions include:
Telecommunications
Several types of telecommunications infrastructure may be relevant to the technology under consideration:
- telegraphy and telephony using fixed lines or broadcast signals to transmit voice, faxes, images and data
- radio systems, including public broadcast radio and person-to-person radio communication
- computer networks, including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), intranets and extranets that connect various groups of computers together to share data and communicate
- the Internet—the electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organisational computer facilities around the world—that enables the sharing of information, access to e-mail and the transmission of messages, images and data
Physical environment
Computers and other technology are sensitive to the physical environment, such as temperature and humidity levels.
Power generation
Technology that is powered by electricity (this includes most electoral technology) requires a reliable power infrastructure. Even in developed countries with well established power grids, power can be cut-off without warning. In less developed countries the power supply can be erratic, intermittent or non-existent. In places where a continuous power supply is essential, backup power supplies should be an integral part of the technology system.
Maintenance facilities
The availability of maintenance facilities to service a chosen technology is another essential piece of infrastructure to consider.
If a chosen technology breaks down and maintenance services are nonexistent or poor, the technology is likely to be of no use. Maintenance facilities may need to be imported to support the technology. If this is the case, the cost-effectiveness of this option needs to be scrutinised.
Technical skills
The availability of technically skilled personnel to operate and manage a new technology is also an important factor.
If the local work force is inexperienced and insufficiently trained to support a chosen technology, EMBs may have to import personnel with the appropriated skills or train their personnel. Even if skilled workers are available locally, it may still be necessary to rely on external service providers.
Training staff in-house may be costly, time consuming and difficult to achieve in the short-term, but more sustainable in the long-term. Once the staff acquires the necessary skills, the ongoing cost of maintaining technology in-house may be lower than relying on external providers.
An EMB might need to ensure that it has the ability to maintain in-house expertise and that staff turnover does not deplete its needed skills base.
Importing skilled labour may ensure success in the short term, but may be less cost-effective and less sustainable in the long-term. An EMB will need to include these costs in the budget provisions. External providers who are only needed intermittently may be less expensive and more reliable than in-house staff and more likely to be experts in their field than in-house staff. However, external providers who are needed regularly or on a full-time basis may cost significantly more than in-house staff who perform the same functions.
If external providers are working in a competitive market, an EMB may be able to reduce costs by regularly reviewing its contracts and suppliers. On the other hand, if providers have a monopoly over their product or if an EMB is locked into an open-ended contract, costs may higher than otherwise necessary.
Readiness to Assimilate Technology
EMBs adopting a new elections technology must be sensitive to the readiness of the stakeholders to assimilate the technology. In some circumstances, people will expect more from a technology than it can realistically deliver. In other cases, people may be distrustful or suspicious of a technology, or they may be poorly equipped to adopt it.
Unrealistic expectations of a technology can result in new technology that is not capable of fulfilling its intended functions. This can happen if the technology chosen is not appropriate for its intended tasks, or if it cannot be maintained after installation due to inadequate support mechanisms.
A distrust or suspicion of technology can lead to delays in implementation or can halt a project altogether. When stakeholders are poorly equipped to adopt new technology, due, for example, to the absence of trained staff or reliable infrastructure, technology can easily fail to fulfil its promise.
To maximize the chances of success, there are strategies to reduce unrealistic expectations, suspicion and distrust.
Overcoming resistance to change
Bureaucratic opposition to innovation or change may occur when there are vested interests in retaining the current system. A common fear is that the adoption of technology will lead to job loss. This may happen and should be addressed by the EMB in negotiations with staff who may be affected.
Adopting technology often changes the nature of a workplace without necessarily reducing the workforce. The number of staff employed with manual tasks may decrease, while the number of staff needed to manage the technology may increase. In some cases, these staff members will be the same people, and no jobs will be lost. In other cases, new staff with different skills may need to be employed.
When the adoption of technology is expected to lead to significant changes in work practices, it is advisable for EMBs to modify their management strategy. The most important aspect of this is to regularly consult with all affected stakeholders, starting early in the process. Stakeholders who are fully informed about the reasons for change and the expected benefits are more likely to be supportive, particularly if they are given the opportunity to make meaningful contributions at the planning and implementation stages.
There may also be political opposition to innovation or change. Elections by their nature are politically sensitive, and it is possible that a new technology will be perceived as having a political impact and affecting voting patterns. It is important to consult with stakeholders at an early stage and to secure their agreement to change, if possible. Since major changes—such as the introduction of electronic voting—usually require legislative action, securing political support is essential.
The reluctance to adopt technology may also stem from a distrust of the new technology. This may be due to a misunderstanding or lack of knowledge about the technology. Again, the best solution is to consult with stakeholders and explain the rationale behind the technology. In cases where new technology will have significant implications for the electoral process, such as an electronic voting system , trust will often need to be earned by conducting thorough, transparent evaluations of the proposed system that are, ideally, independently verified.
When the considered technology affects the public, it is important to include them as stakeholders and to gain their trust in the new system. This may entail a large-scale communications campaign to inform the voting population of the proposed changes. Before launching such a campaign it may be useful to test proposals with focus groups or survey samples of the population.
Major changes, like the introduction of new voting methods and equipment, may be subject to public inquiries, such as a commission of inquiry or a parliamentary committee inquiry. Public inquiries are a good opportunity to gauge public reaction through public submissions and the media interest generated by the conduct of the inquiries. Effective cooperation by EMBs with public inquiries also promotes trust and understanding of proposed technologies.
The maturity of the political environment will also have an impact on the acceptance of new technology. A society in a transitional phase may have very high expectations, or conversely, an elevated distrust. It is good to be aware of these possibilities and to be prepared to work with them.
In more mature political environments with greater political stability, there may be a resistance to innovation on the basis that the current system works well. In this case, change has to be persuasively presented, and stakeholders have to be convinced that tangible benefits can be expected from adoption of new technology.
Managing high expectations
While some people may be distrustful or suspicious of technology, others may expect too much. This may be particularly true for people who have not had much exposure to technology and have an unrealistic expectation that technology will solve a specific problem. This can lead to a lack of trust in the overall electoral process.
EMB officials can lower unrealistic expectations by being transparent and effectively consulting with and informing stakeholders about the opportunities and risks of adopting new technology solutions.
Overcoming structural problems
Usually, new technology is most successful when there are sufficient human and physical resources to properly manage the technology. Staff or contractors who can correctly implement and operate the technology need to be available. If this is not possible, an adequate workforce will need to be trained.
If external contractors are expected to be used, their cost needs to be taken into account when adopting new technology. In this case, contractors may be needed not only to set up the technology, but also to operate, maintain and upgrade it.
Scanning local security environment
The security environment may also have an impact on the success of a new technology, particularly in countries that are in transition to democracy. If there is a risk that the election process may be disrupted by civil unrest or sabotage, a robust and flexible technology will need to be chosen that can function if part of the system becomes inoperable. This may involve developing strategies such as maintaining multiple backups of data at several different sites, or ensuring that networks operate even if one or more links are down. A manual back up system may work best to safeguard the system in the event of an unrecoverable system failure.
Peacekeeping missions can be difficult and complicated environments to implement a new technology due to the lack of infrastructure, and the need to accomplish a large logistic exercise in a short time. Many of the strategies described above may be necessary to achieve a satisfactory result.
