The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has turned to technology to support its efforts to capture the addresses of over 26 million registered voters before 30 June 2018. In 2016, the Constitutional Court ordered the IEC to correctly capture the addresses of all registered voters on the voters’ roll before the 2019 general elections. Yesterday, the IEC unveiled MyIEC, an online portal that allows South African voters to submit or update their registration details when they have changed address or when there has been a change in their identity number. … The implementation of online systems in relation to the democratic voting process often brings up concerns of security, especially where citizens’ sensitive information is concerned.
In the wake of the presidential elections in the US at the end of last year, details of attacks on that country’s voting systems were revealed, with reports saying Russian hackers compromised systems and databases. Bloomberg reported that Russia’s cyber attack on the US electoral system included “incursions into voter databases and software systems”.
IEC officials have tried to allay citizens’ cyber security fears. Vice-chairperson Terry Tselane says: “Even though we are confident with our systems, what we normally do ahead of every election, we get all our political parties to check with their IT experts to check vulnerabilities. The process helps us close all the loopholes that are in the system.”
Full Article: IEC goes online to capture voter addresses | ITWeb.
