Electoral Technologies workshop in Ukraine

From November 27-30, IFES Ukraine and the IFES-Central Election Commission Training Center conducted a four-day workshop titled, “Information and Communication Technologies in Elections” with 24 participants (14 men and 10 women) from the CEC, the Verkhovna Rada and the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The training increased participants’ knowledge and understanding of electoral technologies used for voter identification and verification, votes cast and recording election results when considering possible introduction of e-voting in Ukraine.

Participants learned advantages and disadvantages of implementing online voter registration, electronic voting with machines, Internet voting solutions and using technology in results management systems. Participants improved their knowledge of information and communication technologies deployed for exercising voter rights by youth, women, people with disabilities, internally displaced persons, military personnel and out-of-country voters.

A special element of the training workshop was a detailed analysis of case studies from multiple countries explaining both the procedure for introducing information and communication technologies in elections, the consequences of not testing and inappropriate use of electoral digital technologies in different political and socio-economic contexts.

“I believe that we all come back to our work with new knowledge and homework after the event since there is much to do and consider,” said CEC member Pavlo Lyubchenko.

“The facilitators provided very relevant materials allowing us to assess the real consequences of the decisions made about introducing or refusing implementation of electronic voting.”

Another goal of the event was to establish effective collaboration and dialogue between Members of Parliament, CEC members and representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation in identifying information and communication technology solutions and improving voter access to the first post-war elections in Ukraine.

“Very interesting, intensive, and profound training covering specific aspects of digital technologies in the electoral process, including online voting,” said MP Viktoriia Podhorna. “It made us all seek more meaningful approaches, considering the nuances, details, peculiarities and practices. The main conclusion is that there should be no introduction of technologies for its own sake; and the primary purpose must be to strengthen constitutional democracy. Any technology should be used in a way that does not call into question the legitimacy of democratic institutions established through elections.”