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Updated European Standards for E-voting

The Council of Europe Recommendation Rec(2017)5 on Standards for E-voting

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Electronic Voting (E-Vote-ID 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 10615))

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Abstract

The Council of Europe is the only international organization to have issued recommendations on the regulation of the use of e-voting. The 2004 Recommendation to member States, Rec(2004)11 and the two 2010 Guidelines on certification and on transparency were recently repealed and replaced by Rec(2017)5 on Standards for e-voting and the associated Guidelines on its implementation. We discuss the 2017 Recommendation and the main novelties introduced by it. The Recommendation extends the definition of e-voting to include pure e-counting. It enlists 49 standards which set objectives that e-voting should fulfill to comply with the principles and conditions for democratic elections of the European electoral heritage. Detailed guidelines for the implementation of the objectives are collected in a lower level document, the Guidelines on the implementation of the provisions of Rec(2017)5. The guidelines are expected to be completed through further work. The main differences between the old and the new Council of Europe standards on e-voting are outlined. Correlations are illustrated. The expected use, impact and evolution of the Recommendation and Guidelines are briefly explained.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Council of Europe is an international organization established in 1949 by a number of like-minded European countries, to safeguard and realize the ideals and principles which are their common heritage, as stated in article 1 of the Statute of the Council of Europe (ETS 1). Today it includes 47 member States covering all European Union members as well as Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and Ukraine. Other countries with a “special guest” or “observer” status include Canada, Mexico, U.S., Holy See, Japan, countries in Central Asia etc.

  2. 2.

    Biannual meetings to review the implementation of Rec(2004)11 have been organised by the Council of Europe. Meetings documents are available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/electoral-assistance/e-voting .

  3. 3.

    An informal meeting of experts on the question of the update was held in Vienna in December 2013, https://www.coe.int/en/web/electoral-assistance/informal-meeting-of-experts-e-voting.

  4. 4.

    The author of this article was appointed lead legal expert. She prepared a roadmap for the update and led the draft update of the Recommendation. Intermediary and final results were approved by CAHVE at its October 2015 and November 2016 meetings. More on http://www.coe.int/en/web/electoral-assistance/e-voting.

  5. 5.

    The guidelines also include examples of effective implementation of standards in specific contexts, called “good practice. Examples of good practice are included for information purposes.

  6. 6.

    The mandate of CAHVE foresaw an update of Rec(2004)11. However given its innovative character, it was decided that Rec(2017)5 and the associated Guidelines shall repeal and replace the old documents instead of simply modifying them (see § 27, Explanatory Memorandum).

  7. 7.

    https://www.coe.int/en/web/electoral-assistance/-/council-of-europe-adopts-new-recommendation-on-standards-for-e-voting.

  8. 8.

    The Centre for Direct Democracy (ZDA) of the University of Zurich (iVoting project) has established and maintains a bibliography more specifically on internet voting covering all official reports in the field and academic production from a legal or social science perspective. It can be consulted at http://www.preferencematcher.com/edc/?page_id=338 (follow the link to the latest version).

  9. 9.

    A detailed list of proposals for improvement, including those coming from academic research, was considered by CAHVE experts during the updating work in 2015-2016 (see next paragraph and footnote).

  10. 10.

    This working document has not been published but can be obtained from the Council of Europe. The small group of experts that compiled the list, consolidated it and finally produced the draft of the new Recommendation and Guidelines included A. Driza Maurer (lead), J. Barrat, R. Krimmer, M. Volkamer and S. Neumann.

  11. 11.

    https://www.eac.gov/voting-equipment/voluntary-voting-system-guidelines/.

  12. 12.

    See e.g. the ECtHR judgment of 2 March 1987, Mathieu-Mohin and Clerfayt, series A 113, § 54.

  13. 13.

    The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966), the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) (1966), the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1979), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (2006), the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) (2003), the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (CEDH) (1950), in particular its Protocol No.1 (CEDH-P1) (1952), the European Charter of Local Self-Government (ETS No. 122), the Convention on Cybercrime (ETS No. 185), the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108), the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automated Processing of Personal Data regarding supervisory authorities and transborder data flows (ETS No.181) and the Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CDL-EL(2006)031rev).

  14. 14.

    One could add the Convention on the Political Rights of Women (CPRW) (1952), the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW) (1990), the Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, ILO C169 (1989), the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) (2003).

  15. 15.

    The Recommendation has no binding force per se. However it has an important influence and may even acquire binding effect, in certain cases (see Sect. 4.2 below).

  16. 16.

    Soft-law documents include political commitments, comments to treaty/convention provisions, recommendations, good practices, etc. Examples are the comments to art.25 ICCPR, the Council of Europe recommendations or the Venice Commission’s Codes of good practice. The preamble of Rec(2017)5 refers to a number of soft law instruments (the list is not exhaustive): Recommendation No. R (99) 5 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the protection of privacy on the Internet; Recommendation Rec(2004)15 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on electronic governance; Recommendation CM/Rec(2009)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on electronic democracy; the document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the OSCE; the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, adopted by the Council for democratic elections of the Council of Europe and the European Commission for Democracy through Law and supported by the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

  17. 17.

    Rec. v Rec(2004)11 read as follows: «in order to provide the Council of Europe with a basis for possible further action on e-voting within two years after the adoption of this Recommendation, the Committee of Ministers recommends that ….”. In French “…afin de fournir au Conseil de l’Europe une base à partir de laquelle il pourra élaborer les actions futures en matière de vote électronique dasn les deux ans après l’adoption de cette recommandation, le Comité des Ministres recommande que…».

  18. 18.

    The word “standards” in the title of this Venice Commission report from 2004 corresponds to the concept “principles” as defined in this paper and as referred to in Rec(2017)5. This inconsistency illustrates the fact that e-voting challenges legal regulations among others because it requires a very well structured and coherent body of regulations, including terminology, which of course is far from being the case.

  19. 19.

    Constant case law of the ECtHR.

  20. 20.

    This happened for instance in Norway, Estonia, Switzerland, Belgium.

References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ardita Driza Maurer

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  1. Ardita Driza Maurer
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Correspondence to Ardita Driza Maurer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Robert Krimmer

  2. Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Melanie Volkamer

  3. German Research Institute for Public Administration, Speyer, Germany

    Nadja Braun Binder

  4. University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Norbert Kersting

  5. Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain, Belgium

    Olivier Pereira

  6. IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Carsten Schürmann

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 1.

Table 1. Correlation between (old) Rec(2004)11 standards and the Rec(2017)5 and accompanying Guidelines. Decisions with respect to the old standards (under Explanation)
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Driza Maurer, A. (2017). Updated European Standards for E-voting. In: Krimmer, R., Volkamer, M., Braun Binder, N., Kersting, N., Pereira, O., Schürmann, C. (eds) Electronic Voting. E-Vote-ID 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10615. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68687-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68687-5_9

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