Council of Europe

E-voting Handbook - Key Steps in the Implementation of E-enabled Elections Council of Europe

The use of electronic voting systems has caused controversy in the media and among the general public, and has even come under the scrutiny of the law courts. It has become clear that the uncertainties surrounding the introduction of e-voting are rarely of a technical nature, but primarily raise political and societal concerns. The key issue is to ensure that the principles of free and fair elections are upheld, regardless of the voting method chosen. This handbook is written for governments and organizations considering whether or not to conduct e-voting pilot schemes and trials or to make e-voting a feature of their electoral system. It reviews relevant issues such as building and safeguarding trust in the system, the value of open-source software and the implications of a voter verifiable audit paper trail. Concrete e-voting issues are discussed in the framework of the electoral cycle. This handbook can be used as a stand-alone guide, but governments or organizations would benefit most by consulting it in conjunction with Recommendation Rec(2004)11 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on legal, operational and technical standards for e-voting.