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Guiding Principles

This page identifies several guiding principles to be applied to the use of technology in the electoral process.

Administrative Considerations

Technology in elections is not an end in itself - technology is simply a tool used to facilitate various electoral processes. As such, the administrative considerations that apply to each step of the electoral process will generally also apply to the use of technology in those processes.

Cost Considerations

Technology usually has substantial costs. Before making a commitment to implement new technology, it is important to fully calculate all the likely costs and savings to determine whether the new technology is viable.

Social and Political Context

Use of technology in elections must be sensitive to the local social and political context. In some circumstances, people will expect more from technology than it can realistically deliver. In other cases, people may be distrustful or suspicious of technology.

Electronic/Mechanical Voting Systems

This page discusses briefly different kinds of electronic and mechanical voting systems, which have been used since the first voting machines were developed at the end of the 19th century.

Optical Scanning Systems

This page describes briefly what is an optical scanning device, where specialized computer hardware captures an image and software converts the image into computer-readable data