e-Voting in South Africa

Unknowing for most South Africans, we are in a phase of potentially far-reaching reforms of the electoral system and election practices. At the time of last year’s national and provincial a reform element was introduced, namely the possibility that independent candidates can stand in these elections. In the same breath, Parliament appointed the Electoral Reform Consultative Panel to review the entire electoral system in South Africa. Last week, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) convened a seminar in Cape Town of more than 200 participants to talk about the possibility of electronic voting (e-voting) in future.

Electronic voting in the form of internet (online) voting (i-voting) and off-line voting on electronic machines or consoles (e-voting) is not an unconventional practice. More than 40 states use it at the moment and includes countries like Estonia, India, Brazil, the DRC, states in the USA, and until 2020, also Namibia. It is also used by several South African universities, notably Unisa, for SRC elections. 

At the IEC seminar it became clear how many variations of e-voting (including i-voting) are used in these states. That created a spectrum of options for South Africa. The IEC held a seminar on this topic already in 2013 and therefore it is not a novel idea.

In the case of i-voting, the voter can cast a vote from anywhere in the world on any type of device which can be connected to the internet. The vote is immediately recorded and stored on a mainframe or cloud. Very soon after the end of the voting the preliminary results are available. Auditing processes will be done before the final results are announced within a short space of time. 

In the case of e-voting, it is not done on an internet-based network but on electronic consoles put at individual voting stations. It differs from the manual system in the sense that printed ballot papers are not used, and voters do not mark their preferred candidate on it. In most instances the ballot papers are also not manually counted. 

Within this category there are a number of variations. In the DRC, voters identify their preferred candidate on an electronic screen, press a button next to the candidate and the electronic console makes a paper print-out of the vote, which is deposited in a sealed ballot box and later manually counted. In India, electronic consoles fixed with batteries, are used in a similar way but a receipt is printed while the vote is electronically stored and counted at the end of the election. 

The DRC and Namibia use Indian made electronic consoles powered by batteries, and therefore not dependent on electricity networks. India does the same. It already addresses one of the concerns of South Africans who are used to electricity interruptions. 

Estonia is the leading nation in the world in e-governance. They have used different forms of electronic voting for more than 20 years already, and their current system since 2017. It is a combination of i-voting from Monday to Saturday, while on Sunday conventional paper-based ballot paper voting at voting stations is done. It caters for both traditions in voting processes. 

The IEC seminar over three days opened up the debate about the form of voting of the future. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) is their main research partner and has done valuable work already. The seminar congregated a wide range of interested parties, starting with the Minister of Home Affairs, the parliamentary committees on home affairs, several political parties serving on the IEC’s National Party Liaison Committee, academics and researchers and the media. 

Several pressing issues constituted the debate. Minister Leon Schreiber identified his reform initiatives regarding personal identity matters as the starting point. It consists of three components. First is migration from the green ID book to smart ID cards. The second one is to have a fully-fledged digital identity document in place by 2029. That can be on a mobile phone (which is distinct from a photo of the ID on your phone) and is digitally active. The third objective is a digital population register which can integrate or centralise all the various identity-relevant systems. With that in place, electronic voting will be much easier and many of the current concerns will be addressed in the process. 

Related to identity issues, is the second issue of privacy of personal information. It also applies to the protection of personal privacy in elections. One of the suggestions options of ensuring the privacy of a vote, is its encryption (like what WhatsApp does). 

A widespread concern in respect of e-voting is cybersecurity. The IEC already uses a complex digital network for the current electoral system and so far has been quite successful to avoid destructive cyber-attacks. It remains, however, a perennial concern across the world. The choice between i-voting and e-voting will also impact on how acute such a concern will be. 

Telecommunication policies are relevant for the future of e-voting in South Africa. The Department of Telecommunications and Digital Technologies made an important contribution to the IEC’s seminar and it is abundantly clear how important digital transformation is for identity and election issues.

Despite all the assurances that e-voting is a viable option, public trust in it remains the main imponderable. Many people simply don’t trust it. Take for example the fact that at the ANC’s Polokwane national conference in 2007 they were prepared to use electronic voting but the ANC Youth League did not trust it, and therefore it was discarded. Trust-building is therefore the single biggest challenge for the IEC and all the interested parties. 

Related to the trust dilemma, is the argument that many South Africans has a low level of technological literacy. Extensive voter education (which is at the moment lacking) is regarded as the remedy. This point and possible easier remedies should be considered. Many older South Africans are not clueless on their mobile phones and can find their way with banking apps or WhatsApp. It an electoral platform is integrated with other functions often used by South Africans, it might become much more feasible. 

Electronic voting has many advantages. Imagine how quick the election results will become available or the mistakes with manual counting of ballot papers it will avoid. Electoral fraud will be reduced, because a voter’s identity will be more reliably identified and the voters’ ability to vote more than once will be minimized. But this is not a system that can be introduced very soon, because it will depend on progress in all the fields already mentioned.