Modernizing the vote and rationalizing the state: computers and voting in France

Abstract

This article seeks to explore the impact of new voting technologies—machines from 1970–90, followed by screens from 1990–2010—on electoral practice in France. It begins by showing how the arguments deployed by advocates of the new technologies largely resembled one another, despite the fact that the two devices were based on rather different technical processes: hand-operated machines as opposed to networked computers. The article then examines the effects of these systems, which have been adopted in a number of towns, on the act of voting and electoral behaviour: the nature of the vote has been profoundly altered as a result, while the eagerly awaited increase in turnout has failed to materialize. The analysis will conclude by emphasizing the profound changes involved which affect both the organization and administration of elections, in particular the dispersal of operations, an ongoing process of experimentation, and the transformation of the electoral division of labour.