Technology in Elections
January 29th, 2008Two quick points regarding the use of Information Technology in elections.
First, there’s a very good report in last week’s Economist detailing some of the issues that have arisen in the US primaries with E-Voting machines. The article is a good background piece on the state of E-Voting in the Country that has embraced it most fully. An excerpt:
The problem with direct-recording-electronic (DRE) voting systems […] is their vulnerability to sloppy installation, poor maintenance, shoddy software, infrequent updates and accidental loss of data.
Many of the problems experienced in the US, during this and previous cycles, are the types of issues we would face in Ireland if we went ahead with the system proposed and purchased. I have absolutely no faith in the Nedap/Powervote system. I do not know anybody from a technical background that does. I discussed my concerns in some detail back in 2006, and nothing has changed since then.
I’m not against Electronic Voting in principle. I do believe that there are ways Information Technology can help elections. The systems the Government has purchased are simply not fit for purpose; even paying to store them is a waste of money. I can’t imagine there even being public confidence in the system.
Which brings us to the Electoral Register. Darragh O’Brien recently revisited the subject on his blog. Darragh and I traded posts on the subject back in May of 2006. Unfortunately, not much has changed with the Electoral Register.
Some work was done in the run-up to the General Election, leading to many names being removed from the register. The substantial number of revisions added on the Supplemental Register of Electors stands to show that the process we have for tracking those entitled to vote in Ireland is fundamentally flawed. I have been calling for a complete change in the way the Electoral Register is compiled - I believe it should be handled by a central body rather than the Local Authorities - and will be raising the issue again as we get closer to next year’s Local and European Elections.
All the data exists to ensure that everyone entitled to vote at each election is able to do so. A number of Government departments know dates of birth, addresses and citizenship for (practically) every person on the Island. We need to stop using the outdated practices we currently have in place, as a matter of urgency. The data exists and is kept up to date for PPS numbers, Health Records, Social Welfare and Taxation.
If the Government is going to invest any money in IT-related election projects, I hope it will be to sort the mess of the electoral register rather than another failed attempt to force E-Voting into use. Should they do that, I hope they will take Darragh’s advice on Information Quality.
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5 Responses to “Technology in Elections”
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January 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Damien,
Thanks for the ‘namecheck’.
Re: PPS numbers, I’m afraid that it is not necessarily a universal truth that that data is up to date. I know of a few cases where people who had been recieving correspondence from Revenue at their residence in Dublin found out (through another problem they had) that their PPS Identity still had them living in South Kerry, where they hadn’t lived for 15 years.
PPS data is PART of the solution, but it is not a panacea. The question I would pose is this… if the governance of information quality in the Electoral Register is poor, on what basis can we assume the governance of other Information resources is better? Unfortunately, I suspect that the Governemt is guilty of the same mistakes as business - confusing management of TECHNOLOGY with the management of Information.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I would accept that the data management within government is far from perfect, but it’s much better than the electoral register. Under the current system, staff are allocated on a temporary basis whenever the register comes up, and it’s forgotten about for the rest of the year.
Data quality needs to get a lot better on a national level. This would take a full time agency, I consider.
On a side point, I agree with your comment on managing technology vs information. It’s as common in public bodies as it is in the private sector!
February 4th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
So Damien, when will you persuade your party colleagues in Goverment to finally bit the bullet and scrap the Nedap machines?
February 4th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Trust me, I’ve been trying! I’ve spoken on the topic at Youth Conferences, Ard Fheiseanna and in private meetings with the relevant Ministers. I’ve been in national papers, and on national radio.
I raise this at any chance I get, with anyone who will listen.
If they don’t scrap them, it won’t be for the want of trying!
February 7th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Damien
You are right regarding the resourcing of the electoral register management. Information Quality is a bit of a pup. It’s for life, not just for Christmas.
As for the quality of information across government being better than the register, I’m sure that overall it is. But do we have any objective metrics of that quality? If the horror stories I’ve heard from a number of departments about staff training, filing and fundamentals of managing information are to be believed then I would have cause for concern.
Of course many departments and individual civil servants are concientious and do manage the quality of their information well, just as in a business different departments are sometimes speedboats floating on a a sea of ineptitude.
As for e-voting…here’s a link to a post another blog I help administer about the issues with e-voting in the US Primaries…