Voting Procedure Research Articles

Exploring the Readiness for Electronic Voting (E-Voting) in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Dodoma, Tanzania

There has been a lot of research on e-voting recently. Most studies assume that the implementation of e-voting is not merely about technology but also relates to several critical factors, such as the readiness of human resources and infrastructure, public trust, and others. This study explored the readiness for e-voting in developing countries, a case study of Tanzania. Specifically, the study aimed to examine the challenges of the current voting system, establish the e-voting readiness status in Tanzania, and find out factors for establishment of e-voting system in Tanzania. This study was quantitative in nature and obtained data from 196 respondents selected from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officers and voters in Dodoma using purposive and convenient sampling techniques. Data was obtained from questionnaires distributed to officers and voters. The obtained data were analysed through descriptive statistics by the help of MS excel. The results show that the current voting system is faced with several challenges including limited safety, lack of trust, threat and insecurity vulnerability to mention but a few. It was further revealed that respondents were ready to adopt and use e-voting because it improves voters’ trust, ease voting procedures, reduces transportation costs on election materials/equipment and saves time. The study recommends the Independent National Election Commission of Tanzania, through various stakeholders see the possibility of establishing e-voting to achieve free and fair elections.

“Dumbarton Oaks conference (1944) — towards the creation of the United Nations”

The article provides a thorough analysis of the documentary materials of the important international conference in Dumbarton Oaks (1944), which was preparatory to the creation of the United Nations. It was possible to agree on many issues about the structure, bodies, main goals and principles of the Organization at the conference. But several fundamental issues at Dumbarton Oaks could not be resolved. These are questions about initial membership in the UN (primary membership) and about the composition and voting procedure in the UN Security Council (the “veto” right). The author provides interesting information about the particularly heated discussions that erupted regarding the admission of four countries to the founding states of the UN: Poland, with which the Second World War began, and where the composition of the new Polish government was not fi nally formed, and the new borders of the Polish states; Argentina, which remained formally neutral during the Second World War, but where a pro-fascist government came to power in 1943, and only in 1945 Argentina was one of the last countries to declare war on Nazi Germany; as well as two Soviet republics — the Ukrainian USSR and the Byelorussian SSR — whose international status was adjusted in 1944 in accordance with amendments to the Constitution of the USSR in 1936, and which made a huge contribution to the Victory in World War II. The author convincingly showed how fi rmly and consistently the USSR defended its position on recognizing the leading role of the Soviet state in the world. The important historical significance of the Dumbarton Oaks conference (1944) is that it created the model of the United Nations, a central global security and peacekeeping organization that has existed for 80 years.

Extending the Hough transform to recognize and approximate space curves in 3D models

Feature curves are space curves identified by color or curvature variations in a shape, which are crucial for human perception (Biederman, 1995). Detecting these characteristic lines in 3D digital models becomes important for recognition and representation processes. For recognizing plane curves in images, the Hough transform (HT) provided a very good solution to the problem. It selects the best-fitting curve in a dictionary of families of curves through a voting procedure that makes it robust to noise and missing parts. Since 3D digital models are often obtained by scanning real objects and may have many defects, the HT has been extended to recognize and approximate space curves in 3D models that correspond to relevant featuresThis work overviews three HT-based different approaches for identifying and approximating spatial profiles of points extracted from point clouds or meshes. A first attempt at this extension involved projecting the spatial points onto the regression plane, thus reducing the problem to planar recognition and using families of plane curves. A second approach has been proposed to recognize spatial profiles that cannot be projected onto the regression plane, using two types of space curve families. Unfortunately, the main drawback of methods based on traditional HT is that it requires prior knowledge of which family of curves to look for.To overcome this limitation, a third method has been developed that provides a piecewise space curve approximation using specific parametric polynomial curves. Additionally, free-form curves that a parametric or implicit form cannot express can be represented using this technique.In the paper, we also analyze the pros and cons of the various approaches and how they managed and reduced the HT's computational cost, given the large number of parameters introduced when families of space curves are considered.

Enhancing Institutional Elections: A Case for Electronic Voting Systems at Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the possible advantages of establishing an EVS at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC). With an emphasis on increased voter trust, lower expenses, and increased efficiency, the research seeks to assess the viability and benefits of implementing an EVS for KIMC elections. Methodology: Using a case study methodology, this study will examine the material that has already been written about EVSs and interview important KIMC stakeholders to learn about their present voting procedures and difficulties. Findings: The system of voting ought to be fast in terms of casting votes as well as tallying to eliminate long queues and anxiety of voters waiting for result. System voting is more preferred choice as opposed to the use of papers and boxes. Ballots are more expensive since they are bought every time election is conducted. System voting is more comfortable and done at ease with fewer resources in terms of money and time. On other hand manual system is inefficient, insecure, incorrect and expensive. A need therefore arises to develop System voting to manage voting process efficiently and effectively. Electronic voting systems, or EVSs, present a strong substitute for conventional paper-based ballots, guaranteeing improved electoral efficiency, security, and transparency. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This research will contribute to the ongoing discussion on the role of EVSs in promoting democratic processes within institutions. The findings will provide valuable insights for KIMC administrators in making informed decisions regarding the adoption and implementation of an EVS. This study can inform policy discussions on the broader application of EVSs in Kenyan institutions.

Caring for minorities: The Flexible Decision Rule

AbstractSimple majority rule disregards the interests of the losing minority; their vote does not affect the outcome. When vote outcomes are narrow, close to 50% of voters, the concerns of a significant part of the voters are disregarded. This increases polarization in the population and endangers democracy. This paper proposes a new procedure for political decisions by referendums. The Flexible Decision Rule formally takes into account the percentage of voters accepting or rejecting a proposal. The higher the share y of voters accepting it, the more strongly the proposal is to be put into reality; the lower y is, the less strongly the proposal is to be put into reality. This procedure explicitly considers the concerns of both the supporters and the opponents thus raising the fairness of the vote procedure. In contrast to majority voting, each vote marginalizes the outcome and therefore raises the incentive to participate in the vote increase.

Early voting can widen the turnout gap: The case of childbirth

Early voting procedures boost voter participation and have therefore been suggested as institutional remedies for the problem of unequal turnout. Scholars have, however, raised concerns that making voting more convenient may actually lead to a less representative electorate. We contribute to this debate by leveraging large-scale Swedish registry data to analyze persons expecting a child around the time of the election. Our results indicate that politically engaged high-status voters are more likely to use the opportunity to vote in advance when faced with the risk of not being able to vote on election day. Given the large number of obstacles to election-day voting that individuals face throughout life, it is therefore conceivable that efforts to make voting more convenient and less costly for citizens may in the end lead to less representative electorates.

Challenging Dualism: Rethinking the World Council of Churches through Anzaldúa's Borderlands

precis: This essay applies Gloria Anzaldúa's theoretical lens of borders and borderlands to the World Council of Churches. Such a lens highlights how the W.C.C. simultaneously expands the borderlands and reinscribes dualisms. I explore the Council's voting procedure and flexible understanding of membership as instances of the W.C.C.'s softening borders. I also present the Council's struggle for representation, specifically with gender and rationalism as instances of the W.C.C.'s supporting dualisms. In response to existing borders within the Council, a mestiza consciousness imagines alternative possibilities. The 11th Assembly's elections offer key insights as a case study of border support and opposition that intersects with consensus, membership, representation, and rationalism. I suggest that Anzaldúa is useful for the W.C.C. and ecumenism overall in identifying and challenging dualisms.

Was Bolsonaro’s 2018 electoral victory an institutional accident?

Presidential Elections are critical moments for polyarchical systems, particularly in contexts of high social tension. In this regard, the 2018 presidential election in Brazil, which used a two-round system, is a significant case study. Intriguingly, the most divisive candidates went to the second round. Was this an institutional accident? Pairwise and positional voting procedures embody different generalizations of a majoritarian credo that underpins such elections. The paper mobilizes both perspectives and, using representative survey data, reconstructs the top four preferences of the Brazilian electorate a week before the election. The analysis reveals that the electoral winner, Jair Messias Bolsonaro – despite being a divisive candidate – was a Condorcet Winner and a Borda Winner. Conversely, the second-round loser, Fernando Haddad, was a Condorcet Loser. Thus, Bolsonaro’s victory in 2018 was not an institutional accident. The paper also explores possible alternative scenarios under different feasible sets of candidates through simulations, contributing to a deeper understanding of the role of decision procedures in critical junctures.

Advancing Electoral Processes: A Novel E-Voting Model Integrating Iris Scans, Raspberry Pi, and Blockchain Technology

The amalgamation of an e-voting system with blockchain technology represents a significant advancement in the electoral process, streamlining voting procedures. However, concerns persist regarding the security and auditability of the system. While blockchain provides robust security and transparency to safeguard the integrity of votes, it faces potential resistance from tech-agnostic users. In response to these challenges, a novel e-voting model is proposed, leveraging iris scans through Raspberry Pi technology, offering a promising avenue for enhanced security and user acceptance. Moreover, this biometric approach introduces a seamless and user-friendly authentication process, potentially mitigating the resistance faced by tech-agnostic voters in adopting advanced e-voting technologies. The integration of iris scans through Raspberry Pi into the e-voting system, coupled with blockchain technology, presents a comprehensive and forward-thinking solution to the challenges posed by security, auditability, and user acceptance. This multifaceted approach not only addresses existing concerns but also sets the stage for a more inclusive and secure electoral process in the digital age.

Analysis of Coercion-Resistant for E-Voting System based on Blockchain

Abstract: Election absenteeism rates are steadily rising, partly a result of the distance required to cast a vote. The use of electronic voting procedure would eliminate the need for travel and enhance voter turnout. In addition, compared to the conventional paper ballot voting technique, this reduces dangers like manipulations and produces results more quickly. A remotely electronic voting system should, nevertheless, adhere to the highest standards of security, dependability, and transparency given the significance of an election. Numerous remote e-voting systems, many of which are based on blockchain technology, were examined in this literature review. Blockchain technology provides for the removal of the Trusted Third Party (TTP) and the decentralization of transactions while also providing transparent and completely secure data storage, making it a new technical foundation for many different types of IT applications. The use of smart-contract technology, which automates and executes user agreements, is also permitted. The authors of this study examine the most insightful blockchain-based e-voting options. The lack of openness and auditability in conventional voting methods can be addressed by blockchain technology. A reliable computing platform is offered by running a self-enforcing e-voting system on a blockchain for real-time data verification

Об информационном воздействии юридического голосования на правовые отношения

The article analyzes one of the main functions of legal voting, namely the informational function. The author proposed and examined in detail a staged model of informational impact of legal voting on the legal relations that develop on issues of collective adoption of legally significant decisions. It is concluded that this function is one of the most important functions of the considered legal phenomenon, and its practical implementation involves the consecutive passage of four stages. At the same time, the ideal stage model does not assume optional stages, considering each of them as a mandatory one. In practice, the third stage, namely the perception of collectively made legally significant decision, understanding its meaning, by the persons interested in the results of the voting procedure can fail to occur due to objective and subjective factors.

Participation in monitoring the 2024 election through election monitoring agencies

Election observers, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Muhammadiyah University of Buton, accredited as an election monitoring institution in Baubau City. The purpose of this election monitoring activity is to ensure that the general election runs smoothly. The method used in this activity is coordination and supervision. The result of this service is that the February 14 2024 voting will not only be a busy time for election participants and election organizers. Election monitoring institutions are also busy with consolidation and training agendas for preparation before going into the field to monitor election implementation. The work of election observers is not only during voting at polling stations. Election observers begin to supervise the election process from the moment the election stage begins. Observers ensure that election organizers carry out all stages and schedules according to what has been determined. Meanwhile, during voting, observers supervise the implementation of voting from the time the polling station opens until it closes. Monitoring is carried out, among other things, regarding voting procedures, vote recapitulation results, including recording findings of suspected fraud, such as money politics and intimidation of voters.

Preventing Double Spending Attacks through Crow Search Algorithm to Enhance E-Voting System Security

Electronic voting system is the process of polling votes and counting votes. In most of the countries voting may now be done electronically, there are still several difficulties involved, including the expense of paper, how ballots are organized, the possibility of varying results when tallying the votes, and others. Duplicate votes pose a significant concern as they can be fraudulently cast by individuals. To focus on this issue, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is employed to enhance the voting procedure in a secured manner. A directed acyclic graph is used by the Internet of Things Application (IOTA), a promising distributed ledger system. Faster transaction confirmation, high scalability and zero transaction fees are achieved via the Directed Acyclic Graph structure. In both IOTA tangle and blockchain technology, the public cast duplicate votes. The unauthorized user can create duplicate votes in the blockchain as well as IOTA tangle. This can be focused in this proposed method. The double spending problem can be solved by using Crow Search Algorithm (CSA). This Optimization problem produces an improved result for resolving double spending in e-voting systems.

Democratizing traffic control in smart cities

To improve the performance of systems, optimization has been the prevailing approach in the past. However, the approach faces challenges when multiple goals shall be simultaneously achieved. For illustration, we study a multi-agent system, where agents have a plurality of different, and mutually inconsistent goals. We then allow agents in the system to vote on which traffic signal controllers, which were trained on different goals using deep reinforcement learning, would control the intersection. Taking decisions based on suitable voting procedures turns out to lead to favorable solutions, which perform highly for several goals rather than optimally for one goal and poorly for others. This opens up new opportunities for the management or even self-governance of complex systems that require the consideration and achievement of multiple goals, such as many systems involving humans. Here, we present results for traffic flows in urban street networks, which suggest that “democratizing traffic” would be a promising alternative to centralized control of traffic flows.

Majority Voting – A Critique Preferential Decision-Making – An Alternative

The basis of western democracy is the almost universal belief that controversies shall be resolved by the will of a majority. And quite right too. Unfortunately, this leads many to take decisions by a majority vote, with proposed amendments and then the motion itself all approved or rejected in simple yes-or-no ballots. Other more accurate voting systems have long since been devised, and yet binary voting prevails, not only in democracies, but also in theocracies and autocracies; it is ubiquitous, in politics, business and law. Accordingly, this article analyses its weaknesses, discusses its origins, relates a little history, and refers to some of its worst consequences. It then goes on to describe a non-majoritarian methodology, to compare majority voting to other decision-making voting procedures, and finally to talk of a world where the words ‘majority’, ‘minority’ and ‘veto’ may fade from the political lexicon.

Формы непосредственной демократии на муниципальном уровне в условиях цифровой трансформации

Electronic (digital) democracy should be understood as the use of information and communication technologies for the protection and development of basic democratic values and, above all, the participation of citizens in the decision-making processes of the authorities. At the same time, there is currently an urgent need for further digitisation (fully or partially) of various forms of direct democracy used at the local level. First of all, it concerns the holding of municipal elections with the use of DEG systems, which is already taking place at present. Despite all the advantages of the ECT in elections, practice shows that there are also problems in this area, primarily related to non-transparency of voting procedures and the emergence of doubts about the correctness of vote counting. The use of blockchain technologies, which do not allow changing or deleting previously added information, seems promising here. However, organisational and technological issues should not be left to the discretion of technical specialists - developers of the relevant SS systems, which caused negative perceptions of the use of these technologies in elections earlier. The implementation of the SS should be based on a sufficient regulatory framework that would contain detailed requirements for these technologies and the specifics of their use in the voting procedure. At the same time, these requirements should be unified for the whole country and be enshrined, accordingly, in acts of the federal level. Even broader prospects are offered by the use of ECTs in local referendums, provided that they are the only way of expressing the will at the referendum, and not an additional one (as at present). The introduction of local referendums in electronic form can fundamentally change the importance of this institution of direct democracy. The simplicity of holding and promptness of summarising the results, as well as the relative cheapness of the electronic referendum allows to make it not an extraordinary, but an everyday mechanism for making decisions on a wide variety of problems directly by the population of municipalities. Nevertheless, we believe that such a prospect within the framework of the digital transformation of local self-government is, if not inevitable, then at least very likely. In our opinion, taking into account the objectively existing digital inequality of municipalities, the issue of holding local referendums exclusively in electronic form should be resolved directly at the local level. Federal legislation on local self-government should only enshrine such a right for municipalities themselves. The very adoption of this decision in a particular municipality can be carried out only through a referendum (in the traditional form) or at a meeting of citizens. At the same time, a referendum with the use of DEGs may well partially supplant such an institution of direct democracy as a meeting of citizens, since many issues that are currently resolved at meetings of citizens in the future can be resolved at local referendums in electronic form. Also, modern digital technologies can significantly simplify the procedure for using such forms of direct expression of the will of the population at the local level as citizens' lawmaking initiative and initiative projects. In both cases, it seems promising to establish the possibility of forming initiative groups and registering, respectively, the acts submitted in the order of law-making initiative, as well as initiative projects in online mode (under the mandatory condition of identification of the participants of these initiative groups). It seems that this will somewhat simplify some mandatory procedures, however, in general, the implementation of these forms of direct democracy exclusively in a remote mode is unlikely to be expedient in most cases. In addition to existing legislation, digital technologies create opportunities for other, new forms of direct democracy at the local level. These include, for example, online debates, online protests and public crowdsourcing.

Accelerating Image Classification based on a Model for Estimating Descriptor-to-Class Distance

The article describes a method of image classification based on the estimation of the distance to the etalon class. The implementation of estimates gives a significant gain in classification speed compared to linear search while maintaining a decent level of accuracy. The methodology is based on the use of the triangle inequality for images given by a set of binary vectors as descriptors of the image key points. The evaluation is applied to the "object descriptor – etalon" classification method, which is based on the descriptor voting procedure. An analysis of evaluation options is carried out using the parameters of the etalon sets in the form of a medoid and the closest or farthest points from it. The gain in classification time compared to the traditional method proportionally depends on the number of descriptors in the etalon description. Software simulation of classifiers with the implementation of evaluation shows a gain in speed of 350-450 times for the description of 500 descriptors while maintaining one hundred percent classification accuracy on the training set of similar NFT images. A control sample experiment shows that the classifier with estimation can respond better to image details compared to the traditional method.

Empowering Democracy: A Robust and Secure Online Election System

Every democracy and organization’s hallmark are the voting system. The absentee ballot which India has been using have proved to be defective and even ineffective since they require a large manpower, taking longer processing time for the publication of results. Accordingly, to eliminate such flaws from the system, these amendments are implemented in the systems that could circumvent these considerable disadvantages. Physical presence as a criterion is also eliminated by the new method, hence decreasing overall complexity. The country has been undergoing significant changes since 2014 especially the use of online voting to control and manage elections. The system may help to achieve a better performance and enhance the overall voter numbers. On the one hand, it has a positive side in terms of protecting privacy and providing authentic information. The primary points describing security include minimization emerges as everyone’s motive. In our research paper, we conducted an analysis of this system that involves three stages of authentication for guaranteeing the reliability and validity are utilized in the entire voting procedure. A process begins with voter card verification, then comes the second and third level- Aadhar verification and face verification respectively.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ACTIVITY OF COURTS WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF JURORS: ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE USA AND KAZAKHSTAN

he authors, based on a comparative analysis of the criminal procedure laws of the USA and Kazakhstan, studied the issues of the activity of courts with the participation of jurors. The choice of the US experience in considering criminal cases by a jury was not accidental, since the USA is the state to use a jury trial and already has its own legal history that is different from the UK. In the course of the analysis, the authors revealed three aspects such as the selection of jurors, the number of jurors, and the voting procedure during sentencing. The selection of jurors under US law has its advantages in comparison with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in terms of simplifying the selection and the right to refuse to participate as a juror. On the issue of the number of jurors, taking into account the US experience, we believe it is possible to reduce them from 12 to 9 and in some cases to 7 jurors. On the issue of majority voting or unanimous voting, based on the experience of the United States, we hold the opinion on the importance of voting by unanimous decision. Based on the positive experience of the USA, the authors proposed several amendments not only to the criminal procedure legislation of Kazakhstan but also to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Thus, the authors believe it is necessary to expand the category of criminal cases considered by a court with the participation of jurors, to improve the selection procedure and voting procedure. As well as the possibility of consideration of civil cases by a court with the participation of jurors. We believe all these amendments will have a positive effect in protecting the constitutional rights of citizens and building a rule-of-law state.

Analisis Pelanggaran Kode Etik Anggota Kelompok Penyelenggara Pemungutan Suara dalam Pemilihan Gubernur Sumatera Barat 2020 di Tempat Pemungutan Suara 1 Desa Salak, Kota Sawahlunto

Abstract This research aims to describe the process of ethical code violations and analyze the factors causing ethical code violations by members of the Polling Organizers Group (KPPS) in the 2020 West Sumatra Governor Election at Polling Station (TPS) 1 in Salak Village, Talawi Sub-District, Sawahlunto City. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach with a case study method. The theory used is election malpractice. The results of the study show that there were violations of the ethical code committed by KPPS members at TPS 1 in Salak Village due to the non-compliance of KPPS members in following the rules before the voting process. Violations occurred because KPPS members had not prepared the ballot tools in the voting booth. Voters were not well-informed about the correct voting procedures according to regulations. Factors causing ethical code violations by KPPS members at TPS 1 in Salak Village, Sawahlunto, include KPPS members' inability to work professionally, their limited understanding of the election regulations, insufficient supervision by Polling Station Supervisors (PTPS) during the voting process, lack of communication and coordination between KPPS officers and PTPS, Polling Station Committees (PPS), and Sub-District Election Committees (PPK), as well as inadequate quality of resources and training for KPPS.