The Impact of the D21 Method and Its Modification on Citizens’ Participation in Participatory Budgeting. The Case of the Czech Republic

Participatory budgeting (PB) is often discussed as a tool to support active participation of citizens in the decision-making in the matters of the distribution of public resources. However, little was said about the possibility that the choice of a voting method used in the voting phase of the PB process could affect the participation in PB. In the Czech Republic, the Democracy 2.1 (D21) voting method is often used in municipalities implementing PB and additionally, it is promoted as a method to encourage more people to vote. This article aims to determine Czech municipalities with the D21 method and its modification, and to evaluate the impact of choosing these voting methods on participation rate in PB. The study suggests that the choice of a voting method is relevant for citizens´ engagement in voting. Based on the empirical findings, the D21 method and its modification are associated with a higher voter turnout in PB than another voting method. Further, the results underline the influence of external organizations offering online platforms for voting.

Features of public electoral administration in situation of pandemic

The aim of the article is to consider the issues of public administration of the election process in situation of pandemic, the peculiarities of the implementation of election legislation and the problems of elections in Ukraine and abroad with the introduction of quarantine restrictions. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of holding elections in situation of pandemic. Research methodology. The set of general scientific and special methods is used to achieve the objectives of the research: systemic, dialectical, systemic and structural, legal and dogmatic, comparative, predictive methods. Research results. It has been noted that in many countries the question of postponing the dates of elections and referendums, which had been set in advance, was raised because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Practical meaning. The analysis of the experience of foreign countries in postponing the voting dates of elections and referendums has shown that such measures had been taken because of the introduction of the state of emergency as the special legal regime for public authorities and administration throughout the State or in individual administrative-territorial units, which entailed substantial restriction of citizens’ rights and freedoms in the area of electoral matters. Value / originality. The need for further research of alternative voting methods, such as direct visits to the polling station, such as remote voting, voting by mail, early voting, mobile voting, electronic voting, voting by proxy and others has been substantiated.

An Improved Coercion-Resistant E-Voting Scheme

E-voting has gradually replaced the traditional voting methods to make it easier for people to conduct an election. Recently, Liu et al. propose an unconditional secure e-voting scheme using secret sharing and k-anonymity. Their scheme achieves correct tallying results without revealing raw voting information. However, in this paper, we observe that Liu et al.’s scheme cannot achieve coercion resistance in e-voting since the voter can prove the content of his ballot to the colluded candidates. Then, we propose an improved e-voting scheme to cover up the ballot of the voter with masked values. In this way, even if the voter colludes with corresponding candidates, he cannot prove which candidate he has voted for. Moreover, comparing with Liu et al.’s scheme, the security analysis shows that our proposed e-voting scheme achieves these security requirements like the coercion resistance, integrity of ballots, privacy of ballots, multiple-voting detection, and fairness. Through performance analysis, the experimental results show that our proposed e-voting scheme has higher time efficiency. Compared with other schemes, our scheme achieves a complete voting process and obtains the correct tallying result without complex computation and intricate communication process.

Construction of Efficient Smart Voting Machine with Liveness Detection Module

Voting is now governed by regulations that specify how a person's choices may be communicated and their desires can be realized. This study proposes an electronic voting machine (EVM) as an alternative for traditional voting methods, which may include the manual utilization of only microcontroller-based circuits. With the identified fingerprint liveness, the proposed technique will make voting considerably easier, more effective, and less likely to result in fraud. The suggested model will support and advance the trustworthiness of all votes and it will also assist in streamlining the counting and verification process. It is difficult to demonstrate that an advanced voting system has been properly designed since several critical criteria must be satisfied. Poll results should be kept private in the database in order to preserve the data. The voting process must also show the votes obtained by the respective candidates. The proposed authenticated voting machine can be applied to the local area elections in order to speed up the process and make the election process more transparent. To maintain its theoretical strength, the proposed research idea needs further study. The model employs radio frequency and fingerprint recognition to maintain the protection.

Desingning An E-Voting Information System For Website-Based Village Head Elections

Voting in a democratic country is an important part of the means of choosing leaders. The village head election process in Indonesia still uses conventional voting methods, namely using ballot paper media in the election process. Voting that is carried out conventionally has several obstacles, including the lack of guaranteeing the authenticity of voters' votes, so that people think the results of voting results are often manipulated. In addition conventional selection is deemed inaccurate and time-consuming and costly. In this study the aim of this research is to design an information system e-voting that can be used for the Election of the Village Head of Cemandi, Sedati, Sidoarjo, East Java, where by using this system the election process becomes easier by ensuring the accuracy of the vote count. This system development method uses the model of software engineering waterfall. The test results blackbox show that the functions of the features in the system are running well. Based on the UAT test, the system received an average percentage rate of 86%.

Design of E-Voting Information System for Website-Based Village Head Elections (Case Study : Cemandi Village, Sedati, Sidoarjo, East Java)

Voting in a democratic country is an important part of the means of choosing leaders. The village head election process in Indonesia still uses conventional voting methods, namely using ballot paper media in the election process. Voting that is carried out conventionally has several obstacles, including the lack of guaranteeing the authenticity of voters' votes, so that people think the results of voting results are often manipulated. In addition conventional selection is deemed inaccurate and time-consuming and costly. In this study the aim of this research is to design an information system e-voting that can be used for the Election of the Village Head of Cemandi, Sedati, Sidoarjo, East Java, where by using this system the election process becomes easier by ensuring the accuracy of the vote count. This system development method uses the model of software engineering waterfall. The test results blackbox show that the functions of the features in the system are running well. Based on the UAT test, the system received an average percentage rate of 86%.

Practicing Ballot Secrecy: Postal Voting and the Witness Requirement at the 2019 Finnish Elections

Electoral rights belong to the core of citizenship in democratic nation-states. Voting, then, represents an actualization of the relationship between the citizen and the political community. For citizens living outside the country in which they are eligible to vote, voting signifies a rare institutional connection to the country of origin. The aim of this article is to explore the introduction of the postal vote, a new form of voting for external voters at Finnish elections, from the grassroots perspective. The study focuses on how a central policy concern, safeguarding ballot secrecy, was resolved in the policy implementation by the witness requirement, and how the individual voters subsequently applied it. According to the voters’ accounts of the act of voting, the adopted method for underlining the importance of ballot secrecy in the Finnish overseas postal voting system, for many voters, makes little sense. While they effectively practice ballot secrecy, many fail to demonstrate this to the witnesses they were supposed to convince. Conversely, for these voters, the witness requirement merely works to break the secondary secrecy of elections, namely the secrecy of their participation itself. The empirical material for the article comprises policy documents and thematic text material (interviews, written responses) from 31 Finnish citizens living outside Finland. The article contributes to the scholarly debates on voting as a social, institutional and material practice. It further provides policy-relevant knowledge about grassroots implementation to various electoral administrations many of which, at the time of writing, face pressure to reform their repertoire of voting methods to function better in exceptional circumstances, such as a pandemic.

Increasing participation in the 2019 UK general election amongst patients on a high intensity rehabilitation ward

AimsTo increase participation in the 2019 UK general election amongst inpatients on a high intensity rehabilitation ward, by supporting patients to both register to vote (RTV) and vote.BackgroundIn 2000, the franchise was extended to those under section 2 or 3 as well as informal inpatients. Unfortunately, voting rates remain low: studies of the 2010 general election show voting rates amongst psychiatric inpatients to be 14%, compared to 65% for the general population. Engaging patients in the democratic process is not only just, it has been shown to be an effective avenue for rehabilitation through increasing social capital. The 2019 UK general election represents a singular opportunity for biopsychosocial rehabilitation.MethodIn the three weeks up until 26/11/19 – the deadline to RTV – visual displays and verbal information were used to notify patients of: The electionTheir eligibilityThe need to RTV before casting a ballotThe registration deadlineVoting methods (in person, by post, by proxy)We gathered patients’ intention to RTV and offered impartial, personalised support to register online or by paper, and to apply for a postal or proxy ballot if wished. Patients with no fixed abode were supported to use the ward as their declared place of residence.ResultOf the 17 patients on the ward there were:Four informal patients11 patients under section 3One patient each under a section 37 and a section 37/41, both ineligible to voteOf the 15 eligible patients, one (6.7%) had already registered, six patients (40%) wanted to register and eight (53.3%) stated they did not want to register. Those wanting to register were supported according to individual patient preference. Of the registered seven, five (33.3%) reported voting, one (6.7%) reported not having voted and one (6.7%) declined to say. Two (13.3%) voted in person and five (33.3%) voted by postal ballot.ConclusionOur intervention corresponded with an increase in number of patients registering – from one patient (6.7%) to seven (46.7%), with 5-6 (33.3-40%) casting their ballot. While the causal relationship should not be overstated, the uptake of assistance supports the intervention's efficacy.Good rehabilitation increases a person's social capital, empowering them to actively participate in societal life. Registering to vote is a tacit assertion of this principle. Our study shows that brief interventions that are easily incorporated into everyday care are a simple, effective and ultimately necessary tool in holistic mental health rehabilitation.