Kenya: 2012 electronic voting plan receives support of Kenyan MPs | Nairobi Star

MPs want the electronic voting system put in place in readiness for the 2012 general election. Several MPs yesterday supported a motion by Karachuonyo MP James Rege for the government to facilitate the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to develop an electronic system for collection, collation, transmission and tallying of electronic data.

Cabinet minister Otieno Kajwang rooted for the passage and adoption of Rege’s motion which he said will help weed out electoral malpractices. He said an electronic voting system will facilitate the release of instant results after an election.

Kenya: Parliament backs motion on electronic voting in Kenya | Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

Parliament has Wednesday given the nod to compel the executive facilitate the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission develop a modern electronic system. The system will legalize electronic voter registration in all polling stations in the country up to the national level in readiness for electronic voting come 2012.

The motion sponsored by Karachuonyo MP Eng. James Rege, unanimously received the backing of parliamentarians who termed the current manual system of collection, collation, transmission and tallying of votes as a sham prone to errors and manipulation.

Bangladesh: Election Commission set to introduce electronic polling in Bangladesh over BNP opposition | Gulf Times

The Election Commission (EC) is set to introduce electronic voting machines (EVM) in the coming general elections to stop malpractices during polling but the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has already rejected the plan.

Despite BNP’s rejection, the Election Commission will start a series of dialogues with registered political parties on June 7 to take their opinions on introduction of electronic voting machine and enactment of laws outlining criteria for appointment of Election Commissioners.

Tennessee: Bill wipes out voter safeguards in Tennessee | The Tennessean

In 2008, the Tennessee General Assembly voted almost unanimously to make elections more secure, dependable and trustworthy by requiring a verifiable paper trail for each vote. The step was long overdue — more than 30 states already have such security measures.

But three years later, secure elections in Tennessee remain at risk, and voters may never know if their votes are counted.

Bangladesh: Election Commission going for fresh dialogue – will discus introduction of electronic voting to Bangladesh | bdnews24.com

The Election Commission is going to sit with registered political parties once again to discuss changes to the rules on the commissioner’s appointment and to the electoral laws. The commission plans to kick off the dialogue from June 7, election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told bdnews24.com on Tuesday.

Reforms to the law on delimitation of electoral areas and introduction of electronic voting will also be discussed among other topics, he said.

Egypt: Minister says no electronic voting for Egypt | Ahram Online

Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Maged Othman announced in a press conference today that Egypt will not use electronic voting in the next presidential election.

Othman said electronic voting is currently too costly and requires extensive preparation to ensure the voting process is transparent and everyone is able to vote.

Texas: Port Arthur Texas explains election night results delay | PAnews.com

One of the largest elections in the city’s recent history could have played a part in slow elections results coming from Port Arthur on May 14, city officials said. The city of Port Arthur’s election night performance has been a source of concern for some, and prompted city officials to issue a statement of explanation.

Acting City Secretary Sherri Bellard and Acting Assistant City Secretary Kelly Moore issued a press release Friday in response to concerns that election results were not made available until about 11 p.m., an hour or longer than other area cities on May 14.

Ghana: Former Ghanaian President Kufuor says leaders are the problem, not the people | ghananewsagency.org

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday laid the blame for political unrest and instability at the doorstep of leaders who subverted their countries’ constitutions to extend their stay in office.

“I have witnessed from across Africa, the determination of citizens to exercise their democratic rights. Everywhere people are given the vote, they treasure it. It is not the citizens but their leaders who are too often the obstacle to democracy,” former President Kufuor said.

Texas: Candidate to contest election results in Port Arthur Texas | PAnews.com

After losing her bid for a seat on the Port Arthur school board, Julia Samuels is charging foul and plans to contest election results. Samuels told The News on Tuesday that she believes the Saturday’s election was riddled with irregularities, or even corruption.

“I would use the word “corruption” with ease,” Samuels said. “This has to stop.” Samuels cited several problems with the election process that she believes may have cost her votes, beginning with the accuracy of the electronic machines used to cast ballots. [Jefferson County uses ES&S iVotronic touchscreen voting machines]

“I never did trust the electronic machines,” she said.

Egypt: India ink for scripting new era in Egypt | Hindustan Times

Egyptian elections will have a ‘made in India’ stain. The country electing its new President, after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak this February, will use indelible ink used as a marker in India since 1952 to prevent multiple voting. It would also be a litmus test for the Indian electoral system, as United Nations wants the Election Commission’s expertise to play a role in conducting polls in 12 Arab countries, which faced popular similar uprisings after Mubarak’s ouster.

A team of the Election Commission (EC) made a presentation to the officials of the newly set up election management bodies of Arab countries, with 728 million voters, in Cairo earlier this month. “Countries such as Lebanon and Algeria showed great interest on use of satellite and SMS service for conducting elections,” said Akshay Rout, a director general in the commission.

Peru: Electronic voting comes to Peru for June 5 elections | Living in Peru

For the first time in Peru electronic voting will be part of the June 5 presidential election, reports La Républica. This marks the beginning of the new electoral era in Peru and the district chosen to start this new experience is Pacarán, located in Cañete.

“We already have a team in place and have installed the hardware and software to be used in Pacarán, which has 1,350 voters,” said Ricardo Saavedra, head of IT Projects for the national elections office.

India: Rattled AGP seeks re-poll using paper ballots | The Assam Tribune Online

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Sunday made the bizarre demand for a re-poll using traditional ballots, saying that the Congress had rigged the electronic voting machines (EVMs) to win the Assam elections for the third straight time.

“Definitely there should be a re-election by way of ballots as we strongly believe the Congress party tampered and manipulated the electronic voting machines,” two-time former Chief Minister and AGP founder president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta told journalists. “We have formally apprised the Election Commission seeking a re-election in Assam,” he said.

Egypt: Indian Chief Election Commissioner says Egypt can’t trust imported voting machines can’t be trusted | Financial Express

After the revolution in Tahrir Square, Egyptian authorities consulted India’s Election Commission for help in conducting parliamentary polls in the country, only to get cautious advice from chief election commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi. He asked his Egyptian counterpart to not import electronic voting machines (EVMs) from anywhere and get these manufactured domestically. Imported machines, however faultless they are, could be deemed suspect, he warned.

“The validity of any election lies in the fairness of the process, if the machine is imported from somewhere, there is always a possibility that the election will be questioned as being rigged through the machines,” he said, in an interview to FE. The recent campaign against the use of EVMs in Indian elections, Quraishi said, hinges on the chip, “which is manufactured outside the country and is therefore supposed to be suspect”.

Venezuela: Venezuela’s electoral body approves major changes in voting system | El Universal

The directors of the National Electoral Council (CNE) approved, after a seven-hour meeting, a new project called “Improvements to the Automated Voting System,” which includes the establishment of a Comprehensive Authentication System (SAI) of voters to be implemented in the upcoming elections.

The decision taken by the CNE directors involves a major modification in the voting system, as it includes changes in electronic ballots, fingerprint reading machines, software applications, tally sheets, and the roles of principal poll workers.

South Africa: South Africa Independent Electoral Commission ponders e-votes | ITWeb

As the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) gears up for about 20 million South Africans to make their cross next Wednesday, electronic voting could be in the pipeline as the commission is pondering the seemingly futuristic technology.

More than 23 million people are registered to vote in this year’s municipal elections, and the IEC has printed 70.5 million ballot papers, for the first time printing the sheets in colour. Previously, only national election ballots were printed in colour.

India: AGP blames machine manipulation for defeat | Hindustan Times

Assam’s beleaguered main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Friday blamed “manipulation of electronic voting machines (EVM) by the ruling Congress party” for its rout in the assembly elections even as the Congress got a decisive mandate for a third successive term.

“We knew the Congress would do something and they did so by manipulating the EVMs. Otherwise such a result would not have come,” former two-time chief minister and senior AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta told reporters.

Taiwan: Central Election Commission says Taiwanese need more time to accept, trust e-voting | The China Post

Taiwanese need more time to accept, trust e-voting: CECA Central Election Commission (CEC) official yesterday said it will take more time for Taiwanese people to accept and trust digitization before the government decided to ultimately replace the traditional ballot system with an electric-voting one.

“E-voting is technically feasible but the problem lies on whether or not citizens can put their trust in the system,” said Liu I-chou (劉義周), CEC vice chairman yesterday in Taipei City.

India: The Hindu : States / Tamil Nadu : Each reading on EVMs will be videographed: CEO

Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer addressing a press conference in Chennai on Wednesday. Photo: S.R. RaghunathanEach reading on electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the 91 counting centres will be captured on video and votes polled entered both manually and using computers, to avoid discrepancies in the counting of votes for the 234 assembly constituencies on May 13, said Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar on Wednesday.

After All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Jayalalithaa wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner on the need to allow counting agents to monitor data entries in Form 20, the CEO, at a press conference, said that data entry operators were directly being monitored by the returning officers as they usually sat near them in counting halls. Even if they were sitting across the hall, the tally of votes would have to match the data entered manually and using computers.

Ireland: Confining e-voting in Ireland to the scrap heap | Connaugh Telegraph

The ill-conceived electronic voting system imposed on us by the former Government has cost us, the taxpayers, €58 million, a loss a bankrupt country can do without. Environment Minister Phil Hogan has decided to pull the plug on e-voting and have a fire sale of the 7,504 machines held in storage at warehouses all over the country.

A tender process is being prepared for international publication, which will detail the amount of memory and the software specifications in the machines in the hope some technology firm may be able to harvest some value from them before they are finally scrapped. The e-voting saga has proved an expensive lesson for this country. The concept was not sought nor wanted by the electorate.

India: Electronic Voting Machine ‘Manipulation’ Issue raised with Election Commission | news.outlookindia.com

Alleging a regular racket involved in attempts to manipulate Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), CPI(M) today sought urgent intervention of the Election Commission to stop such instances.

“There is a regular racket (rigging of EVMs) happening in every elections. It happened in Bihar also. People are coming and offering packages to candidates saying that you pay so much and we would ensure victory,” CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters after meeting Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi here.

India: India: The Concept of Negative Voting |The Sentinel

The reality of today’s electoral democracy is that in many constituencies the voters are discontented with the candidates in the electoral fray. Hence the demand for negative voting. In India, the largest democracy in the world, it is not only expected of the voters to exercise their constitutional right to vote, but it is also their ardent duty. And even though voting is not yet mandatory, the Election Commission of India on its part pro-actively informs all the voters to cast their vote by giving wide publicity towards this end. After all, every vote counts.

But if the voters decide that none of the candidates is worth their vote, what is the way out? In the case where Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are in use, The Conduct of Elections Rule, 1961, does provide a voter the option to refuse to vote after he has been identified and necessary entries made in the register of electors and in the marked copy of the electoral roll.

Egypt: India to provide EVMs to Egypt | Hindustan Times

There may be lot of debate in India over efficacy of the Electronic Voting Machines but Egypt, which is holding elections after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, is willing to try the “wonder machine — the EVMs” — in the country wide polls later this year. Egypt will not be the first country to use Indian

EVMs. They have been successfully deployed in Afghanistan general elections. The Election Commission has also provided inputs to Nepal, Bhutan, Ethopia and Mexico on use of EVMs in making the election process more fair and transparent.

Ghana: No e-voting in 2012, declares Electoral Commission | ModernGhana.com

Ghana will not be using the e-voting technology for the 2012 polls, the Electoral Commission (EC) has declared. The declaration is in response to a campaign for the country to adopt electronic voting for future polls.

The system allows eligible voters to select their preferred candidate by pressing a button on a computer. Campaigners say the system ensures greater transparency. But after meeting the various political parties Tuesday, the EC said it would rather implement the biometric registration.

India: Web cameras will keep an eye on May 13 counting | The Times of India

In a bid to ensure fair and free counting on May 13, the Election Commission, for the first time, will instal high resolution web cameras over each counting table to capture images of the counting process including the final figures that will appear in the electronic voting machines.

Chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar said web cameras would be used in the counting centres across the state. “We will be installing web cameras over each table where counting takes place”, he told TOI. There are 234 counting centres across the state, including three in Chennai.

Egypt: Minister says Egyptian companies will provide technology for electronic voting | Ahram Online

Maged Osman, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, today denied reports Egypt is seeking technological support from abroad to conduct electronic voting in the country’s upcoming elections.

He stressed that the Egyptian government and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has full confidence in the ability of local companies to carry out the task, but admitted there may be teething problems when applying the new methods.

Egypt: Chief Election Commissioner of India visits Egypt | IBN Live News

Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi, is visiting Egypt to apprise the top officials in the country about the electoral system in India and the usage of EVMs, as it prepares itself for democratic process after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak regime.

Quraishi is accompanied by a 5-member team from the Election Commission of India which is on a five day visit to Egypt from today. The visit ends on April 23. Egypt’s military rulers had last month announced an interim constitution and said presidential elections would be held by November after Mubarak was ousted in a popular revolution.

India: India Election Commission gives in on paper-trails in Electronic Voting Machines? | Real Time News India

After coming under fire from transparency activists, including Anna Hazare, the Election Commission of India seems to have given in to the demand for paper-backed election instead of purely electronic recording of votes.

The Election Commission had come under fire after Hari Prasad, an activist was arrested for securing an EVM from Mumbai in his efforts to prove that the machines can be compromised.

India: India Election Commission seeks roadmap for Electronic Voting Machines with printers | Hindustan Times

An Election Commission committee on Friday asked Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) manufacturers the time-frame within which the machines can be upgraded as per its suggestions. The high level technical committee has suggested some up-gradations including installing a small printer in EVMs as reported by HT on Friday, to give out receipts for every vote cast.

The idea is to have a record of all the votes that can be verified. The voter, however, will not get the receipt as the commission believes it could be traded. The concept is called paper trail of votes cast.

India: Hack state’s e-voting system, get Rs 10 lakh | Hindustan Times

If you are an ethical hacker, then the state Election Commission is looking for you. As it aims to introduce e-voting in the upcoming civic elections in Mumbai next year, officials wary of independent agencies embarrassing them have now decided to offer Rs 10 lakh to anyone who can hack their e-voting system.

The SEC is all set to float tenders to invite consultants, and one of the conditions is that hackers be ethical and have a demo to hack the software. This comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s decision to introduce EVMs drew a lot of flak.