Introduction
10 to 20 years from now paper ballots will likely only be seen in museums. They will be a thing of the past. We will all be voting on voting machines or via the internet.
But how do we get there? What are the opportunities and the risks along the way? Is technology really the best way to innovate in our quest for better elections? On this, I would like to share a few thoughts today.
My name is Peter Erben. For 16 years I have travelled throughout the world in support of democracy, specializing in assistance to complex elections in the most challenging environments. Often my role is that of a senior advisor to an Election Commission and its executive management. At times, I have also had the honor of being invited to fill senior roles within these election management bodies and through this to lead national elections.
While I am not a current expert on elections in the Philippines, I had the privilege of leading the IFES Technical Assessment Team to the election here in 2004 and together with Beverly Hagerdon, IFES' Chief of Party here, presenting a comprehensive report on the electoral environment at large. I have since had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines in 2007 for a workshop with the COMELEC on electoral standards. I hope my esteemed national and international colleagues here today will provide a current Philippine "lens" on the issue I raise as we move to the reaction to my presentation and the subsequent discussions.
In my presentation I will talk about election technology in its broadest definition, which includes voter registration technology and results transmission, as well as electronic voting machines.
I do not intend to present any specific ' standards", but rather discuss how standards are emerging and where these are documented. Other presenters later in the conference will examine more specific case studies. It is my hope that my presentation will provide a good starting point for these.
My presentation will be in two parts. Firstly, I would like to talk about some general principles on choosing technology. Secondly I will move on to how standards are slowly emerging for the use of this technology.
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