E-voting for the Romanian Constitution
		Sorin Kertesz, Sebastian Ailioaie October 14, 2003

in limba romana

Romania will use for the first time the electronic voting procedure at the national referendum on amending its Constitution, to be held at the end of this week.

On October 9, 2003 the Romanian Government adopted an Emergency Ordinance to implement the electronic voting system, which will be available only to the military and police forces on official missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia – Herzegovina and Kosovo (1623 persons).

The system is administered by the General Inspectorate for IT&C, under the Central Electoral Office supervision. The designated voting stations will be equipped with computers connected to the E-voting System on digital certificates basis. A web site address will be transmitted to the referendum organisers and each president of the voting station will access the web page dedicated to the voting procedure using an account name and a password. A help menu is also available, explaining all the steps of the procedure. The voters will receive a ceiled envelope with a user name and password for access and will vote by clicking on the “yes” or “no” button.

It’s rather easy to predict the success of this pilot project, considering that
a) The vote is much simpler than in local or general elections: there are only two options - “yes” and “no”.
b) The stake is smaller: the polls indicate a major opinion in favour of the amended Constitution.
c) The target group is also a good choice: although these voters may not necessarily be IT proficient, they are well organised and disciplined, essential qualities for the success of such an experiment.

The importance of this initiative is more on the symbolic level; the real challenge is the follow up and the future will decide if this project will remain at the “pilot” level or we will witness a national implementation for the next year local and general elections.

Last updated October 16, 2003