When polling goes digital

By Microsoft

Online voting systems mean a more secure, efficient and transparent way to carry out elections and referendums.

In an era of mobile devices and digital services, paper-based voting systems seem firmly planted in the past.

The City of New York manages 1,200 polling sites, 30,000 co-workers and delivers 15,000 pieces of equipment to sites. Paper-based votes would have to be carried by the New York Police Department for manual entry into a mainframe computer.

New York City fixed this labour-intensive and costly process by providing 1,800 secure devices to staff. They enabled a record 75% of the vote tally for 2016’s presidential election to be processed a mere hour after the polls closed.

Other governments are also testing out secure, digitally-enabled polling stations to bring the process of voting into the digital age. These platforms are more secure, efficient and transparent - and enable better citizen engagement and participation.

To learn more about how governments can harness digital in polling and other areas, download the whitepaper by filling out the form below.

Image by Ryo FUKAsawa - CC BY 2.0