Election technology, US’ Lu: Don’t wait until summer – OSCE’s Borchardt: Consider e-counting

An international conference on new voting technologies was held in Tirana headed by OSCE Ambassador in Albania Bernd Borchardt.

In his speech, the OSCE Ambassador said that the introduction of technology in the voting process reduces many problems that Albania has faced in the past during election processes.

Focusing on tangible proposals, the ambassador said that in the case of Albania it is better to introduce electronic counting than electronic voting.

“There are some dangers in using new voting technologies and everything must be considered. New voting technologies cannot create confidence and cannot replace confidence in the electoral system. But I recommend you to consider the electronic counting, which would not require unnecessary financial costs. It would be offline, so it would not be easily attacked by cyber hackers, and it could contribute to depoliticizing a good part of the election administration,” Ambassador Borchardt said.

US Ambassador to Tirana Donald Lu said that if the technology is introduced in the next elections in 2019, all the involved sides have to start work immediately.

“The electronic process does not settle the problems of the vote in Albania. The OSCE/ODIHR recommendations have to be met. If you want electronic voting in 2019, you should not wait until next summer, because it will be a failure. Technology in elections eliminates problems with papers. We are ready to support this work in every aspect,” Lu said.

The recommendations that emerged from this high-level international conference will also be submitted to the Parliament of Albania for review.

SCAN

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