The elections to the Government of Spain are just around the corner but we all ask ourselves the same question, what participation will he get? The truth is that the elections on July 23 arrive at a vital moment for the future of the country, but the date does not seem the most propitious for such an important issue.
When Pedro Sánchez announced the elections in the middle of the summer, concern fueled the vast majority of Spaniards. And if they call me for a polling station? But this was not the only question to answer, others also echoed: how do I vote if I will not be at my home for the date?
It is amazing that in the midst of the digital age, where everything is done electronically and the Public Administration already boasts of its management, the right to vote cannot be carried out in the same way. It should be noted that in addition to the dates on which they will occur and that many citizens will be immersed in their vacations, the temperatures in Spain are not good either.
In our country, if you want to exercise your vote, you must go in person to the polling stations and personally deposit your ballot in the corresponding ballot box. And no, far from any technological revolution, as if it happens in other countries, Spain does not allow electronic voting. We can only settle for voting by mail.
Welcome digital era: electronic voting
The implementation of electronic voting would put an end to many problems that these elections have brought to light: voters who are at a distance, votes from abroad, the impossibility of going to the polling stations, scheduled trips, reservations made, high temperatures… These inconveniences they would cease to be so if digital voting were implemented as organizations in the sector have been demanding.
However, although its advantages seem numerous, Few countries have decided to let themselves be carried away by new technologies and implement its use. Specifically, there are nine who have finally opted for digital voting: the US, Venezuela, Brazil, Estonia, Belgium, India, the Philippines, Bulgaria and the United Arab Emirates.
Why Spain and other countries do not implement it?
To understand this position, perhaps we should start by understanding what changes are necessary and if they are feasible. First of all, it should be mentioned that for electronic voting it would be necessary to proceed to legislative and cultural changes important. To establish this digital vote, it would be necessary to achieve the necessary consensus to reform the Organic Law of the Electoral Regime, a law that dates from 1985 and which regulates how the electoral system is managed in our country.
Similarly, the initial investment required to apply this system and the need to carry out rigorous tests could be other reasons why this voting system has not yet been applied in our country.
On the other hand, it would also be necessary technical and procedural requirements to be able to vote electronically, such as a digital identification system, which could well be electronic DNI or digital certificates. However, not the entire population feels fit or qualified for such a fact, so it seems necessary to train or continue giving the traditional vote for those who wish to do so.
Likewise, digital voting would need the development of a voting infrastructure that allows for the casting and counting of electronic votes securely, encrypted vote storage and transmission systems, and security and data protection mechanisms.
The risks of electronic voting
Although electronic voting entails numerous advantages, as we have already explained, the truth is that it also implies certain dangers that must be highlighted. In this sense, insecurity seems to be the main point to beat.
He Internet access and the digital divide they can be another of the risks of your application. The implementation of electronic voting should guarantee that all Spaniards can exercise their right. Another element would be cybersecurity and the continuous advances of viruses.
Another factor is that electronic votes cannot be physically audited. This means that just as it is done in face-to-face voting, which controls how the votes are made and their subsequent counting, in electronic voting this would not be possible, being limited.
This is how electronic voting works in countries that already have it implemented
In the countries where electronic voting has been implemented, the process they follow is similar. For example, in Estonia, whose method is explained and detailed on the website of the Estonian Election Committee, citizens can vote online one week before election daybeing able to change their vote as many times as they wish to date.
The face-to-face census does not end and citizens can go to the ballot box on election day and vote, a vote that cancels the previous ones and prevails over the digital one. The digital voting system is carried out from the web enabled To do this, citizens identify themselves with a digital card or with a mobile identifier, and after this the selection of the candidate and the vote are carried out.
The system includes a security reinforcement that makes it possible to detect hacking quickly and also each citizen who has exercised their right to vote will be able to verify that their vote has been registered in the system. After voting you will receive a QR code with a random number and session code saved and encrypted in the registry.
Subsequently, only the count remains. Authorities verify voting security with an independent registry service which collects parallel information about each vote in the network. These data must coincide with those of the ballot box controlled by the Committee, thus eliminating repeated votes. After this, the verified votes are separated from the data of each voter, leaving only the encrypted data and preventing them from being identified with each citizen.
The procedure and counting is repeated the next day to verify that the results are correct, and also the digital ballots and the relevant information are kept in the system for a month in order to respond to possible complaints that may arise.
