Balloting technologies discussed in Poland

The Association of European Election Officials held its 22^nd annual conference in Warsaw on 12-14 September 2013. The issue under discussion was the role of IC technologies and social networks in electoral processes.

IPA CIS was represented by the Director of the IPA CIS IMDPP Dmitriy Gladey who delivered a presentation Post-2000 voting technologies in the IPA CIS Member Nations. His message was that balloting technologies develop in a broader context of technological advances. The public is very sensitive to the reliability and efficiency of the electoral and balloting process. Therefore, innovations in this sphere are slower that elsewhere. Electoral system is innately conservative and requires time to adopt new technologies which must first be established in other areas. This is simply because the cost of mistake or breakdown is the loss of voters’ confidence – the essence of representative democracy.