HP and Scytl offer secure e-voting solutions

Confidential. Accurate. Anonymous. Secure. Whether voting for the president of a medical board or the president of a country, a successful democratic election must live up to these standards. Yet traditional voting methods often fall short.

Imagine casting your vote for an important local issue via a mobile device. Or voting at a computer kiosk at your local polling station. These two scenarios, known as remote Internet-based voting and poll-site direct recording electronic (DRE) voting, are at the forefront of electronic voting, or e-voting, technology. And they are helping governments overcome many of the obstacles of paper-based elections, including ballot confusion; lost, stolen or miscounted ballots; and inadequate accommodations for disabled voters.

If you live in Spain, Switzerland or many other parts of the world, you may have experienced e-voting already. In Switzerland’s direct democracy system, for example, citizens may be called to the ballot four to five times a year. To increase participation and provide voters with more alternatives, the Geneva State Chancellery turned to HP to lead the development of an e-voting system that would meet legal constraints and match local voting habits. The resulting solution includes voting cards that are renewed for each ballot and can be used for traditional, postal or Internet voting. The first official Geneva “votation” using the new e-voting system occurred in January 2003, and the solution has since continued to prove its efficiency in a variety of referendums.

Similarly, in Madrid, HP and Scytl, a worldwide leader in the development of secure e-voting and e-participation solutions, teamed up for two electronic consultations in 2004. Through Madrid Participa, 136,000 citizens of Madrid were given the opportunity to vote on local issues via the Internet and mobile phones in an event that became one of Europe’s largest e-participation experiences to date.

Encouraged by these early successes, HP and Scytl launched a global partnership, merging HP's 60 years of experience delivering solutions to the government sector with Scytl's dozen years of research in the area of secure e-voting. Together, the companies now deliver e-voting technologies to the private and public sectors in cities, provinces and countries around the globe. They are addressing both segments of the market—remote and poll-site voting—to provide appropriate technologies and services where they are needed most.

Internet-based voting lets voters cast ballots remotely via the Internet and mobile devices. Servers then collect the votes, which are protected by a cryptographic protocol. Remote voting is appealing because it adds convenience to the electoral process and helps address low voter turnout.

Launched last year, DRE voting is also gaining a foothold. DRE transforms a standard HP PC into a secure electronic voting terminal in polling stations. For countries and regions with complex electoral systems, DRE offers many advantages. For example, in elections that require a preferential system or in which voters must choose candidates for several positions, DRE clarifies the process for voters, which helps to limit ballot errors and confusion.

DRE voting can also help governments enfranchise disabled and blind voters in states or countries where voting is compulsory. “DRE-based voting kiosks can have touch-screens and headphones, as well as low seats to accommodate wheelchairs, allowing citizens to vote using headphones and a keypad," says Kate Hewitt, a public sector sales lead for HP in the Asia Pacific region. "As part of our e-voting initiative, HP is focused on helping governments worldwide to improve voter accessibility."

In a world filled with hackers and computer viruses, the security of e-voting is a valid concern. Security, however, is one of several areas in which Scytl and HP stand apart from their competitors. In fact, Scytl's technology has received numerous awards, including Europe's prestigious Information Society Technologies (IST) award. And the joint HP/Scytl solutions incorporate measures such as digital signatures, chained/signed logs and one-way accumulators to preserve the integrity of votes. They also feature end-to-end security from the voter's browser to the electoral board tally to ward off internal and external attackers and protect voter privacy.

"We cannot overemphasize the need for security," says Frank Zimmerman, senior manager and business consultant with HP Consulting and Integration in Europe. And, he says, "it must be viewed from many different angles: the organization and processes; the technical solution; the usability factor; the business case (increasing participation and more efficient counting of votes); public trust in the system; and compliance with laws, regulations and standards."

Cost, inevitably an issue for both the public and private sectors, is another area in which Scytl and HP excel. “DRE voting uses the HP PC as the underlying hardware, allowing schools and libraries, which often double as polling stations, to use the system after an election, which can lower the total cost of ownership,” says Pere Vallès, CEO, Scytl.

Internet voting also provides cost benefits. Though the system has fixed costs, as electoral rolls increase, organizations will realize economy of scale. Internet voting is also more flexible; for example, a last-minute ballot change can be made easily and doesn't require large quantities of paper and postage.

Drawing on a reputation for excellence in reliability and security, HP delivers end-to-end e-voting solutions—from kiosks, PCs and mobile devices to Internet services and data centers—to customers around the world. In addition to hardware, HP brings the infrastructure, consulting and support services to implement and manage e-voting processes, such as polls, surveys, referendums and elections.  For more information, click here

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