2004 European Election Results

Each parish had its own team of auditors to analyse the different components of the electronic vote system:

• Technology;
• Security and confidentiality;
• Workflow;
• Graphic usability of interfaces.

One of the basic requirements of the pilot was mandatory transparency, security and accessibility throughout the voting process, from identification and verification of voter identity to the general result count. A series of independent academic or scientific institutions from the information systems and technology platforms area were entrusted with the audit:

• Universidade de Lisboa Faculty of Science – Informatics Department – Large Scale I.T. Systems Laboratories, Coordinator: Professor Pedro Antunes
  • Draft Evaluation of Electronic Voting Systems – Audit Results (text in Potuguese) (76 KB), Pedro Antunes, Nuno Neves, Luis Carriço Paulo Veríssimo, Rui Rocha Pinto, Filipe Simões, 05.08.2004.
    
• Universidade do Porto – Faculty of Engineering, Coordinator: Professor João Falcão e Cunha
  • Electronic Voting Systems Audit Report – Mangualde Parish (Viseu) (text in Portuguese) (232 KB), Universidade do Porto – Faculty of Engineering, 27.07.2004..
  • Electronic Voting Systems Audit Report – Paranhos Parish (Porto) (text in Portuguese) ( 308 KB), Universidade do Porto – Faculty of Engineering, 27.07.2004..
  • Electronic Voting Systems Audit Report – S. Sebastião Parish (Setúbal) (text in Portugueses) (241 KB), Universidade do Porto – Faculty of Engineering, 27.07.2004.
    
• Universidade do Minho – School of Engineering – Informatics Department, Coordinator: Professor José Valença.
  • 2004 European Election Electronic Voting – Audit Process Results (text in Portuguese) (111 KB), José Manuel Valença, Manuel Bernardo Barbosa, José Bacelar Almeida, 09.08.2004.
    
• INESC – Systems and Computer Engineering Institute, Coordinator: Professor Paulo Ferreira, in collaboration with the Universidade de Aveiro – Aveiro Electronic and Telematic Engineering Institute, Coordinator: Professor André Zúquete
  • Consultancy Report in the scope of the Electronic Voting pilot experiment conducted on 13 June 2004 (text in Portuguese) (257 KB), André Ventura Zúquete (IEETA / UA), Paulo Jorge Pires Ferreira (INESC ID / IST), 26.07.2004..

In addition to the audit, two questionnaires were also drafted with a view to obtaining information on voters’ views on this new means of voting. Some of the results are as follows:

• 99% of the voters who took part in the pilot project and who answered the questionnaire enjoyed the in-person electronic vote experiment and 97% said they would be willing to vote electronically in future elections.

• Virtually all of the voters who took part in the pilot project and who answered the survey consider the system Easy/Straightforward (96%), Fast (96%) and Safe (86%). The respondents also thought that the system makes identifying candidates easier (90.2%).

• 60% thought that the new voting system makes it easier for citizens with visual/motor difficulties to vote.

• 86% believed the system is secure. Voters who did not think the system secure (3.4%) were particularly concerned by the questions on Anonymity (48%) and the Unchangeable Nature of the Vote (40%).

• 57% of respondent voters thought that the implementation of this new means of voting would help decrease abstention in elections through enabling voter mobility.

• Voting online was the most popular, with 59% of the preferences, while the respondent voters also viewed voting through the Multibanco ATM network positively (57%), or even voting by phone using a keypad (51%). Only voting by SMS received less than half the preferences (49%).

The National Data Protection Committee (CNPD) approved a guideline through a Deliberation Approved at CNPD Session on 14 November 2005 (text in Portuguese), entitled “Voter Privacy in Electronic Voting”, which refers to the e-Voting pilot project in the 2004 Legislative Elections.