1. the contribution of the council of europe in establishing standards to ensure secure use of new technologies in elections
Ardita DRIZA MAURER
lead expert of cahve
doctoral researcher UniZurich/ZDA
15th European Conference of Electoral Management Bodies
“Security in Elections”, Oslo, Norway, April 2018

2. Use of digital technologies in elections
Voters’ opinion
data-driven voter-targeted election campaigns
political mobilization through social media
(ab)use of social media to identify and influence voters’ political opinions…
Voting process
Election supporting software: voters’registers, transmission of election results...
E-voting: use of electronics to vote and/or count votes
REC (2017)5 on Standards for E-Voting
Support numérique – abstractions logiques, impossible à observer, comprendre…
Vote à distance – logique « non confiance »; nécessaire d’assurer la conformité à la Cst…
Caractère expérimental – évolution de la technique et de la base légale en parallèle – 2ème génération ; Supervision …;

3. The need for legal standards
25 ICCPR
P1-3 ECHR ?
Universal, equal, free, secret, direct suffrage…
CHVote System Specification Source: R. Haenni et al., 2017
Évaluation de l’existant
Mais aussi proposition pour mieux structurer et développer l’existant

4. The need for legal standards
25 ICCPR
P1-3 ECHR
VC Code of Good Practice
Rec(2017)5 on standards for e-voting
Implementing guidelines
Nat’l Cst.
Law
Regulation
Infralegal texts
Évaluation de l’existant
Mais aussi proposition pour mieux structurer et développer l’existant

5. Recommendation (2017)5 on Standards for E-Voting
How does the Recommendation deal with security of e-voting?
risk management policy framework (rec. ii)
assurances that the system complies with the principles
technical, evaluation and certification requirements (§36)
certification and audits (§§37-39)
assurances that any undue influence on the vote/results can be detected
individual verifiability (§15, §18)
universal verifiability (§17, §18)
reliability and security in case of attacks: responsibilities and measures (§§40-49)
transparency measures that contribute to perception of security (§§31-35)

6. Conclusion
Rec (2017)5’s contribution to ensure secure use of digital tech. in elections
underlines the importance of regulation of use of digital solutions in elections, taking due account of their specificities
provides a model regulation which can inspire national regulation. Accent on respect of the higher constitutional principles for democratic elections
provides guidance on certification of systems, verifiability of results, transparence, etc.
provides a forum for experience exchanges among EMBs (biannual meetings)