Thanks to the technological advances developed at the end of the last century, it is possible to implement advanced technology in elections and that interest is growing.  The everyday impact of technology on election management is very significant and growing. This technology can be aimed at assisting document creation, processing and management, new and more powerful election management information systems, creating and managing voter registers, vote casting, vote counting, expanded public access to information such as filings and reports, powerful tools to make boundary redistribution more effective and efficient or new and expanded ways to share information among practitioners, to name a few. 

In this regard, regulation has lagged behind technological developments. Appropriate regulation should allow the wise implementation of technology in electoral processes ranging from database systems for voter registration, electronic voting, bio-identification systems, scanning and geographic information systems. However, nothing captures the potential and challenges of the implementation of technology in elections more so than electronic voting and vote counting and while it is far beyond the scope of this section to examine all facets of this debate, it does serve as a good example of the relationship between technology and the legal framework.

On the one hand, electronic voting and counting has the potential to increase speed and voter access, while potentially reducing human error and cost. There is also the matter of public expectations in an increasingly technological savvy world.  The strongest advocates argue that new technologies may even increase voter participation.  However, on the other hand, especially in an uncontrolled environment outside a voting location, this innovation faces potential risks such as the loss of transparency, observation and audit, fraud and manipulation, vote selling, intimidation and loss of secrecy.  Of course, there is much that can be done to manage risk and indeed numerous jurisdictions now employ electronic voting technologies including, direct recording electronic (DRE) equipment, ballot-scanning devices, the Internet and mobile telephone networks.[i]  However, it is also reasonable to acknowledge that, “such technologies also pose challenges to the transparency and accountability of an election process, to the secrecy of the vote and may influence perceptions about the security of the vote and have a negative impact on voter confidence.”[ii]

However, in the matter of something as important as elections, what is not up for debate is that, “the standards for assessing elections using traditional ballot papers apply equally to e-voting. Thus, all eligible voters should have the right to vote, the secrecy of the ballot should be guaranteed, and results tallied by e-voting equipment should accurately reflect voter intention.”[iii] The use of technology should not jeopardize the citizens' trust in elections.

Positive regulation should encourage the use of technology which in most cases implies cost reduction. However, the use of technology should not jeopardize the security of elections and citizens’ trust in elections given the vulnerability especially of certain electronic systems. The secrecy and freedom of the vote must be ensured as paramount.  For these reasons, while the legal framework needs to be flexible enough to make best use of available technology, where the application of such technologies may impact the fundamental principles of elections, “Such wide flexibility might be regulated by requiring that certain types of approval be obtained before adopting them.”[iv]  At the very least, this would allow careful consideration, debate and purposeful decision making going forward.