CONCEPT PAPER

SAIFULLAH KHAN (I13-1855), UMAIR SAJJAD (I120715), MAHNOOR AHMED QURESHI (I11-0790),
MUHAMMAD ABDULLAH KHAN (I13-0799), MOIZ
KHALID (I12-0734)
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS | Section D

E-Voting in Pakistan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Problem identification & analysis...............................................2
Literature review:......................................................................5
E-voting models adopted by different countries........................7
E-voting models using internet technology..............................11
Issues of E-voting....................................................................13
The concept of e-Voting with reference to Pakistan.................16
Biometric verification by NADRA..............................................17
Risk Analysis of e-voting..........................................................18
Mechanism and implementation methodology with integrated
change management..............................................................19

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PROBLEM
IDENTIFICATION &
ANALYSIS
Background:Pakistan has always faced an issue of having real democracy in power and the
basic reason why it has never been able to govern by proper leadership was
insecurity of the people and distrust on the elections, elected bodies and the
democratic environment where people can sell votes and people can buy votes
without any problems.
Digging deep into the problem international Medias like International Crisis Group
and Freedom house see the root cause is the ill-mannered activities people do in
the elections. As the whole system is manual so they buy votes and / or shake
hands with the people working at the voting stations. And the people in
command would fill their pockets and make the whole system unfair. Therefore,
Pakistan was in need of such a system where people can vote without any
problem and feel secure and no one can manipulate the results. Such
environment can only be created through some automated system which cannot
be forged or cheated by any one. Here we will try to find out what can be
suggested to get fair results.

Problem Discussion:As soon as Computers went on e-move there was a need to figure out how to
safeguard the sensitive information of companies and Governments.
Understanding the needs of time, Governments also measured how to start and
where to start.
Security and trust are amongst the main issues in e-Government, and also are
amongst the main problems in practicing e-Government.
Along with these issues one of the main emerging aspects of e-government is edemocracy and specifically e-voting. How to secure e-voting; may it be electronic
machines being used in the polling stations or getting citizens cast their vote
through specially driven websites for the sake of elections.
Pakistan has had a history of unfair election results; if it is not the election unfair,
people would say it is an unfair election result or the losing party will always say
that we are not satisfied with results. Thats the reason there was no government
surviving for the complete time period of 5 years and has always collapsed
before this time; some for 2 years and some for 3 to 4 years. As a result Pakistan
has always missing the true democracy.
There are mainly two aspects of this absence of true democracy.

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Social Aspects:

In 59 years of history not many Governments worked for the officially

declared time span of 5 years as in the constitution.
Each government was sent home from the Parliament due to corruption
charges, sometimes by the president and sometimes by the Army.
As soon as elections are over the losing party would declare the elections
unfair.

Technical Aspects: Appointment of polling staff is problematic. Polling staff can help in corruption
during the polling, so many of the candidates try to appoint their own staff at
their polling booths and thus the authorities are approached by such candidates.
Increasing number of polling booths raises the number of staff required. Polling
staff is appointed away from the area where they belong to, thus many of the
people could not cast their vote.
Fake degrees of candidates have been the issue in past, as they use this type
of measures in order to get qualified for being a nominee and then an elected
member.
A huge number of ballot papers are printed and distributed on polling stations
and this cost billions; not acceptable for a developing state like Pakistan.
There is no check and balance on the timings of casting votes as some
influential candidates let their own people cast vote even after the time is over;
as it is normally from 8 AM till 5 PM. So this means people go on voting even
after 5 PM.
Many of the votes are not counted due to slight mistake by the voter, e.g. Voter
left thumb impression in between two check boxes etc.
Presiding Officers count the ballot papers, but human-counting is usually
sluggish and has chances of error as well; which means an ultimate disaster
ahead in the process of Democracy.
Breaking down the problems more deeply into the security concerns we found
that the present day system being followed by the Government of Pakistan is not
secure and hence people can misuse the facilities. As there are a lot of financial
issues with the election commission and hence cannot appoint so many security
guards to make sure that the process runs smoothly without corruption and even
if they do so, it is likely they will have a way to deceive them as well and keep on
bluffing the Government and the people.
Hereby; we will try to encounter these issues and suggest some better
alternatives or solutions to stop these kinds of illegal activities.

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LITERATURE REVIEW:
Voting is one of the primary tenets of every democratic country. The entire
population votes to elect their representative but due to fraud, lower turnover,
deployment of internet, and increased awareness among the general public,
there is a need for change in traditional voting systems around the globe. This is
a very critical decision for a country as it involves the whole populations opinion
for their state (Gritzalis, 2003).
E-voting was introduced by (Chum), and at that time there was lot of theoretical
research took place but can't be applied due to the costs and other issues. As it
is a critical decision for the state to elect representatives who can operate issues
of the state, there is a need of e-voting to improve participation (Gritzalis). On
other hand, the need of e-voting is also becoming more critical due to
advancement of technology and awareness of internet among individuals (L.
Craver).
E-voting is the use of electronic devices in order to elect or cast a vote for the
representative (Johnson). E-voting includes three authorities or agents. Firstly,
the voter: these are individuals who have right to vote. Secondly, registration
authorities: these are impartial and independent bodies that help in the
registration of voters then only register voters that can cast their vote at the day
of election. Lastly, tallying authorities: these are government appointed
individuals who help in counting of vote (Centinkaya & Centinkaya) (Ahmad. T).
E-voting is part of e-govt. It is explained by (Prosser ,A ,Krimmer) that the use of
information technology to support government process and providing services is
not limited to government administration but it includes participation of citizen in
the electoral process electronically by using electronic devices.
E-voting can be done by using different devices like DRE, optical scanner,
Telephone, WAP, SMS, internet (Boras, J). In addition to this, e-voting devices help
in different ways. Direct Recording Machines (DRE) help to reduce miscalculation
by polling staff and reduces the cost of hiring polling staff. DRE machines are
accurate, efficient, cost effective, flexible, fast and reliable (Data - monitor 2008).
On other hand e-voting process, while effective and convenient for citizens, will
not increase participation of voters and there is high barrier of security issues in
deployment of e-voting systems (Moynihan).
E-voting is divided in to three categories by (Ondrisek, B). Firstly, Hardware - the
physical part of system, screen, machines, booths etc.). Secondly, Software these are applications used to run the system by using hardware, drivers,
application, programs, database etc. Thirdly, Human factor - which includes the
intervention of humans in e-voting by applying different rules, regulation etc.

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Issues identified in different research papers and

articles:
According to (Moynihan, D) the process of elections have an impact on society. If
there is any mismanagement, then individuals will lose trust in the system so
security is important for an e-voting system too.
A lot of problems are born in the system which can be overcome by security
requirements defined by Cryptographic Voting Protocols by (Centinkaya & D.
Centinkaya). But on other hand some requirements by protocols are
contradictory, for example, individual verifiability and receipt freeness can't be
met at the same time. These contradicting requirements are known as e-voting
problems. (Gritzalis, D)

Security requirements electronic voting protocol

try to meet:
1. Privacy:

This requirement is explained by different researchers - it

includes that the voter identity should be protected no one can reach to voter
through his/her vote cast. It should remain anonymous even after election
process competed.

2. Democracy: This explained that each voter have authority to vote only
once and individual should be register and eligible to cast a vote.

3. Receipt freeness: This security requirement is to insure that no

receipt shall be provided against vote casted so vote can't be sold by voters or
any unethical activity can't be conducted easily.

4. Accuracy:

This security requirement tells us that votes should be

counted accurately and it should be ensured that invalid votes can't be added
and no modification is allowed in cast votes.

5. Un-corrigibility: This is to make sure that voter can't be forced to

change their vote even by authorities.

6. Fairness: Voters design can't be influenced it can only be done by not

providing any clue about result before any official results.

7. Individual Verifiability: This helps voters to verify that their votes

are cast and they are able to complain and request data during voting process.
There are many serious issues discussed in research papers like hardware
problems, software reliability, programmers reliability, hacking, frauds,
accuracy, recounting issues, security issues, internet security, human errors and
many other barriers in deployment of e-voting system.

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E-VOTING MODELS
ADOPTED BY DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES
Overview of e-voting internationally:
Around the globe only 30 countries meet the criteria of using the electronic
voting technology, from them 9 countries piloted electronic voting then
discontinued after sometime, 7 are still using those pilot, 11 are using electronic
voting machine and 3 refuse to use this technology.
8 countries are from Europe from which 4 (Ireland, Italy, Norway and UK) didn't
use it, 2 (Netherland and Germany) started then shifted to their old systems and
2 (Belgium and France) are still using it. E-voting is used in different countries but
only three countries are using it nationwide other countries are using it state
level. Two of them are in South America (Brazil and Venezuela) and one is located
in Asia (India).

E-voting model adopted in Brazil:

E-voting machine was introduced in 1996 in Brazil for the first time. It is the first
country that used this technology, for nationwide elections, in the world. The
main motivation towards this step is to prevent the country from fraud and to
facilitate illiterate voters. Results of 2002 elections prove the efficiency of system
by contracting invalid voters percentage from 40% to 7.6%.

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There are two terminals for the voting machine. The first is used by polling
officers to authenticate the voter and the second is used by the voter to cast
their votes.
The process starts with authentication in which polling officer types the ID
number of the voters. In the second step, if the voter is verified and has the
ability to vote, then polling staff activate the voting terminal after verification
and the voting terminal consists of a numerical keyboard and an LCD screen. The
voter then enters the number of candidate for whom he/she wants to vote. When
the selection is displayed, then the voter can confirm the choice. Once the final
choice is selected, then at the end of polling voting machines produces results
automatically. Finally the whole data is encrypted and transferred to
consolidation centre.
In 2009, the parliament passed a law to introduce machines which will provide
with paper audit trail. Before this, there was problem of not having verifiable
audit trail in the system, which was a great issue and cause of mistrust in Evoting.

Steps of Voting model in Brazil:

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Authentication
Activate polling terminal
Voter enters no. of candidate
Selection is displayed
Machine produce results
Results encrypted
Load on diskette
Take to consolidation centre

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E-voting model adopted in Belgium:

In Belgium it was introduced for the first time in 1991. It was introduced due to
the motivation of cost saving, quick delivery and easier administration. This
system is different from other systems deployed in different countries. Normally
machines provide the facility to make your choice not to store your vote but here
the case is a little different.
The system of Belgium operates in the following manner: Firstly the voter
receives a magnetic card from polling officers, then inserts it into the voting
machine. The machine then writes the choice on the card that the individual
made and the voter then drops this magnetic card into the ballot box and the
ballot box automatically counts the vote and delivers the result. After that, if
there is still a need for recounting, magnetic cards are available so they can be
recounted. Magnetic cards also work as paper verification audit trail.

E-voting model adopted in the Netherlands:

The Netherlands received their authorization to use technology to support their
voting and counting process. Initially, only electronic counting was used, then at
the start of the new millennium, the implementation of Electronic voting started
and in 2006 it fully deployed E-voting in whole country. There was 97.7% use of
electronic machines for electoral process.
There were two kinds of voting machines used. One had a touch screen interface
while the other was button operated.
There were too many issues in the system, mainly the problem of not having
voter verification audit trail. In 2007, the society proved the system problem in
detail and forced the government to change this system. Government too
investigated this case and came to the solution that they should get back to
paper balloting.

E-voting model adopted in India:

In India it was introduce in 1982 and in 2004 it would become nationwide in the
general election of India. India too faced many problems in their electoral
process, mainly motivated by three major problems:

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1. Logistical issues.
2. Empowerment of illiterate voter.
3. Recurrent vote rigging.

Voting machines was based on two devices running on 6 volts batteries. The first
device is the voting unit, and the second is the control unit which is under the
supervision of electoral officer. In this machine there is one unit assigned to one
candidate and the voting unit has 16 buttons on the unit and there is an option
to connect 4 units to accommodate 64 candidates. On the button, candidate
name and party symbol is displayed so if the person is illiterate he/she can vote
by focusing on the symbol printed on the button. The machine can only cast 5
votes per minute, which is a kind of security check on the system.
On the machines, voters cast their vote by using buttons, then machines are
transferred to the counting centre and their outcome is tallied and final result is
displayed. In 2009 1.378 million voting machines were used in India and paper
audit was launched in 2011.

E-voting model adopted in USA:

In USA Governor Glending signed the House Bill 1457 in 2001, which states that
one system should deployed in all states for election process. In 2002 there were
voting machines around USA for voting processes. Maryland bought the Diebold
electronic voting machine whose source code was analysed by Avi Robin and he
found some serious security flaws in it.
Their system works in a manner that is similar to the general electronic voting
system. Poll books are used to identify the voter. Once the voters are identified,
they are provided with a one-time activation card which is used by inserting it in
the voting machine in order to cast the vote. It is then ejected from the voting
machine and returned to the polling officers. After that, polling is closed and
polling worker use their card (administrator card) in the voting machine, put the
voting machine into post-election mode. After this no one is able to cast a vote,
and polling staff copy all data on their card and take it to the central tabulation
facility.
There are still issues of no paper audit trail for the voter. Although a law was
passed to change the paperless machines with a system that produces a paper
record, it was delayed due to heavy cost.

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E-VOTING MODELS USING

INTERNET TECHNOLOGY
Introduction:
According to research there are fewer countries involved in internet voting
systems. Internet voting is not limited to sending picture of ballot via email to
cast the vote but these images would be printed and counted electronically by
different Electronic voting machines.
A total of 11 countries took part in this new electoral process which include
Australia, Canada, Estonia, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the UK,
Spain and the US.
Norway and India currently use Internet voting, whereas UK had piloted but
discontinued it. Australia, Canada, France and Switzerland use internet for voting
in some part of their countries. Only Estonia deployed internet voting system
nationwide and use it at every level of election. Netherland and Spain didn't
adopt the internet voting system.
Internet voting facilitates residents living abroad to cast their vote without
bearing the heavy cost of traveling to their home countries. Initially the use of
internet was not common so most countries dropped this technology due to the
issues of verification and authentication, but in the modern era there have come
up new methods that overcome these issues and are able to meet the traditional
electoral standards by the use of technology.
Out of 11 countries most countries left internet voting due to their inefficient
result but some countries like Canada, France, Estonia and Switzerland continue
with this technology. The major flaw of internet technology is once you fail to
adapt or implement it properly, the loss of trust makes it very difficult to try it
again.

Process of Internet voting:

1. Time provided:
In the process of internet voting technology, it is offered to voters prior to
election not only on the day of election. In Norway, the system is used to offer
their voter 1 month before election to give participation right to every voter.

2. Verification and authentication:

This is the most important measure in internet voting process. There are different
techniques used in different models adopted by countries in order to counter the
problem of authentication and verification.
Firstly, Pre-registration is a check on internet voting. It is used by four countries
(Australia, Canada, France and Netherlands). In this process of authentication,
the voter is thoroughly checked through his ID verification number, then he/she

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will be provided with authentication code which will be used at the time of
polling.
Secondly, some countries avoid this method and they didn't make it mandatory
for casting the vote these countries are Estonia, Spain and Switzerland.
Other methods of verification are official send the one time password on the cell
phone of the voter or some countries use websites of other organizations to
avoid the verification process.
In Estonia, a digital signature for verification is because they have their ID
verification which enables them to use it digitally by the use of a card reader to
access government services. They use their mobile number, which acts as an ID
card.
In Norway, the government uses "MinID" to verify votes. In this process, the
voters first have to enter their password, then in the second step, a code is sent
to the voter's registered mobile number. Finally, the code is used to caste the
vote according to your choice if anyone wants to alter his/her vote then they
have to go through their process.

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ISSUES OF E-VOTING
1. Social:

There is a big issue of internet access because, in rural areas, people don't
know how to use technology, so there is need to provide training to some
part of population in order to get good result.
Psychological issues come when there is a change; older people are not
willing to adapt to new technology as they prefer their traditional way of
voting.
Professionals and educated segment of population are cooperative in use
of technology but it's a big trouble for illiterate, unskilled labour which
results in low turnover.
As internet voting provides security and privacy so some people can
misuse this aspect in a way by selling their votes and create problems in
the system.
There is a need to change polling staff with educated and professional in
order to get work done in better manner, so government have to
accommodate previous staff somewhere else.
Major social issue of e-voting is people are afraid of data security and don't
want their data in the hands of a third party.
Advertisements on different websites can alter the choices of individual
voter and the information about candidate available on internet is not
authentic because anyone can publish information whoever have access
to internet.
Technology creates confusion because every machine has a different
interface and voters can make error while voting.
People might not trust the technology because they cannot check whether
the software used in the machine is transparent or not.
Accessibility and usability systems are complex and difficult to use so
voters make errors and they need high level of communication and
demonstration before casting vote.

2. Legal:

In the traditional electoral process there were different laws but by the
introduction of technology there should be reforms to address
technological issues which could arise.
E-voting promotes advertisement on different websites to influence the
choice of voters, so there should be laws for advertisement to protect the
rights of individual voters.
In e-voting, information of individuals are in the hands of a third party so
there should be legislation to protect the information of individuals as we
know every individual has the right to privacy.
Legal binding for the standard of technology which would be used for
election process, state should not wholly rely on any machine or
programmer, there should be standards.

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Vote trading is a legal issue which should be countered by applying

different checks on processes.
Problem of tampering data is a serious legal issue and it can be countered
by restricting voters from altering their choice.

Law should be there for audit in which every resident of country is given
full right to make audit or can check the transparency of voting.

3. Administrative:

E-voting has a more complex series of processes as compared to

traditional voting system so management problem rises, there is need to
develop a good database to manage information.
The current staff might not be comfortable with e-voting so there is need
to recruit technical staff which can train others to operate effectively.
Administration is always in fear of misuse of data because they have huge
amount of data available in their database.
Major issue management is facing "the verification and validation" by use
of technology is difficult.
Issue of recounting as machine didn't provide paper audit verifications .
The issue of scalability means there is need to outline which process is
required and which of them is useless, most importantly, administration
has to counter the problem of duplication.

4. Political:

Technology enables some new voter to vote but discourage older people to
vote because they are not adaptive to new technology. So there is fear of
losing voters.
There is the problem of the process not being supported by the legislature,
as the greater transparency harms the status quo of rampant rigging, vote
buying, and feudal pressure.
Even minute failures might result in an uproar by politicians to serve their
own agenda, as evidenced by the current protests against the 2013
election which was the most transparent election in the nations history.

5. Technical:

Major technical issue is to trust the system which is available for voting
because we cannot just take the existing business models for this purpose
but there is need to develop a unique system due to legal issues and
many models can't meet the rigorous standards of voting.
In e-voting deployment there is need to analyse all process thoroughly
through effective BPR.
Mostly states choose machine from third party who is at lowest on bid and
with cost minimization comes a compromise on quality.
There is need to centralize the electoral process if we want good results
but it is expensive in a manner that it takes time and by time technology
changes.

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Security issue are highly dependent on technology as early voting gives

advantage to increase turnover but in addition to this hackers have more
time to hack systems easily.
As software required for this process can't be made by state itself, for this
purpose there is need to hire programmers to design software on which
state have to rely.
Hardware and software both can create fault in our election process, so
there is need to highly concentrate on both while selecting.
There is need of flexible system which can easily adapt upon requirement.
Major challenge of integration between e-voting and e-government is
there to have efficient use of technology.

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6. Financial:

Firstly cost analysis of highly centralized system is very difficult and it

requires hiring professionals which will be costly. Even some countries
drop it after its cost analysis.
CBA reports that there is high cost in implementation of E-voting.
Once whole population cast a vote and they provide their personal
information to election commission and there is high cost associated with
handle the data and to protect it from misuse.
High level of database is required to handle mass amount of data and to
apply different analyses to find out trends.
Existing staff can't handle the new technology so high costs will have to be
borne in order to train employees to handle machine in an effective
manner.
Higher costs of designing tailor made software and the cost of maintaining
them with introduction of new hardware.
Special kind of machine is required for election process, so for efficient
machine there is need of high costs.

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THE CONCEPT OF EVOTING WITH

REFERENCE TO PAKISTAN

E-voting is beneficial for Pakistan from all the aspects. In the current scenario
when political parties are criticizing on the issues of rigging in 2013 elections. We
can introduce E-voting method of voting for the coming elections. Which will
reduce the percentage of rigging to some extent and the issues of rigging and
political instability can be controlled. Most of the people consider E-voting to be
the solution of the rigging as the vote is casted by the person himself and the
vote is verified by the thumb print of the person so rigging can be controlled.
Above picture shows the whole process how a person can cast his vote and how
the casted votes can be counted. For implementing the
E-voting procedure
NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) has developed a
Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) which is going to be placed on all the polling
station. In this way voting is going to get transparent and rigging free because
each person will be able to cast only one vote.
As mentioned above the current situation of Pakistan is not good there is a lot of
instability when it comes to political situation. The major reason of that instability
is the elections 2013. Political parties are criticizing the procedure of casting the
vote because they consider that rigging was done in most of the polling stations.
Most of the ballet boxes were stolen, fake votes were cast on the behalf of the
other person and ballet paper were stamped by the officers themselves. So
according to most of the people and the political parties E-voting is the solution
to this problem as voting procedure is transparent and rigging can be reduced.
Now to implement E-Voting procedure bill have to be present by the election
commission in the parliament where they can ask for the demonstration of the
procedure to check the validity of the process that whether it will work properly
or not. For that Electronic Voting Machine are being placed and then checked.
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Then they will decide whether they will accept the solution or not. NADRA is
making sure to make this thing accepted so they are actively working on this
project using the technology and making machines that can help to cast a vote
by recognize the thumb print. So this concept is accepted by the people of
Pakistan and is still in the progressing phase.

BIOMETRIC VERIFICATION
BY NADRA

National database and Registration Authority has taken an upbeat initiative by

developing electronic voting machine solution proposed to be placed in all polling
stations across the country. The purpose of this is to ensure transparency and
rigging free elections since each voter will be able to cast only one vote.
Thumbprint verification of each voter shall be done at the respective polling
station before casting the vote without the use of magnetized ink. The new EVM
solution will incur cost of only 40 percent of magnetized ink which amounts to
rupees 2.5 billion.
While briefing the media, chairman NADRA Tariq Malik stated that the EVM is a
combination of three components involved in vote casting procedures. A brief
idea of these components is as follows:
Voter Identification Unit: which ensures that the voters identification will be
carried out through the CNIC provided voter is registered on the given polling
station.
On succesful identification, voter authentication process will be initiated through
which finger prints will be verified against biometric in NADRA database. Then
the voter will be able to cast his vote through the vote casting unit.
The second component of EVM is Vote Casting Unit which says that on
successful authentication, voter will be mapped to respective constituency
and list of candidates will be shown.
The voter will choose the candidate of his/her choice and will implement right of
authorization with utmost secrecy and protection. Selection of candidate by
voter will be recorded in local database as well as on printed ballot.
During this process, the voter will be provided with aid through multimedia.
And the third component is Result Management Unit whereby, when polling is
done, vote casting unit will print a list of candidates along with number of
bagged votes.
Electoral transparency is possible by making use of technology and I am proud
that NADRA has delivered on its promise to the Nation-said Tariq Malik.

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RISK ANALYSIS OF EVOTING

Risk factors associated with e-voting system are discussed as follows:

Security of the e voting system: for instance if some virus hits the
machinery it could damage its entire software and can be transmitted to
the election management system. The government needs to look after the
system on regular basis especially during election in order to eliminate
maximum errors if found.
Unlike the traditional ballot system where only the election officers were
involved, in e voting system the manufacturers, the programmers and
maintenance staff which might have their own objectives can lead to
rigging in elections. For instance a corrupt insider working for one of the
vendors of widely used voting machines, can hide malicious code in the
software. Election officers are not mostly computer security experts and
do not appreciate the security vulnerabilities of these machines.
Without a voter verified paper ballot it is impossible to perform meaningful
recounts. The electronic ballot records stored in those memory circuits are
completely invisible to and unverified by the voter, they are also alterable.
Yet it is the contents of that invisible and impermanent computer memory
that are used to total up the votes.
Without the verified paper records it is near to impossible to perform a
successful recount.
If the electronic record is inaccurate then the printed report will also be
inaccurate which is not voter-verified.

These and some other risk factors are involved in e voting system that should be
taken care of before implementation.

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MECHANISM AND
IMPLEMENTATION
METHODOLOGY WITH
INTEGRATED CHANGE
MANAGEMENT
Goals:
In order to ensure that the implementation of an e-Voting solution in Pakistan, it
is critical to ensure that the goals and aims of the system are clearly defined and
specified. This prevents scope creep as well as the chance of the project being
side tracked. The overall goal for some countries, in this instance, has been to
showcase their internal development. However, since technology is not the only
or the primary driver of social change, there is the risk of falling into the trap of
assuming that simply implementing this system would bring change to the
society. Instead, the system should itself be geared towards addressing problems
in the electoral process of the country and, thus, the end result expectation
should be limited and realistic. As discussed previously, the goals in the
implementation of this system are:

That the new system be not only a technological change in the Election
Commission, but should also be accompanied by structural and procedural
changes to enable the Commission to fulfil its Mission and mandate
properly, effectively and efficiently.
That the new system not only helps the Election Commission in the
electoral process; it also serves the citizens of the country. The system
should make it easier for voters to cast their vote, keeping in view the
large segment of the population that is illiterate.
That the benefits of the chosen e-Voting solution outweigh its drawbacks,
in comparison to other solutions as well as traditional paper voting.
That all additional costs incurred should be justifiable when compared to
the benefits of the new system.
That, despite vendor involvement in the IT development of the system, the
Election Commission should maintain overall control of the e-Voting
system, and sufficient resources and capacity building measures should be
taken to ensure that the voting system is not completely dependent on
any external entity.
That, most importantly, the system should have the confidence and trust
of key stakeholders, including the general public. This confidence should
not be built on stakeholder ignorance but a good understanding and
reliable implementation of the system.

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System design
In order to fully understand and implement a system that addresses the general
needs of a democratic nation, as well as the unique problems that Pakistan faces,
the sponsors of this project would need to evaluate different systems, as done
elsewhere in this paper, and to identify the specific combination of solutions, as
done below. Moreover, meeting with subject matter experts, like the Institute of
Democracy and Electoral Assistance would yield a more nuanced approach to the
problem. A general overview of the features of this system are given below:

End-User Functionalities:

Electronic voter lists and voter authentication: This list has already been
compiled and is available with the ECP, along with photo ID of each voter.
Electronic authentication using biometric verification might make
authentication of voters that much more robust. This includes retinalscanners, fingerprint scanners etc. As the fingerprint data of voters is
already available with NADRA, a digital fingerprint scanner would require
less investment and would be logistically simpler.
Poll-worker interfaces: Poll workers would also require special
functionalities, available only to them. These would include resetting the
vote count of machines when opening up a polling station, closing polls,
printing out and transmission of results.
Vote-casting interfaces: Interfaces that are easy to use and ensure that
proper votes are cast are critical to this venture. Various interfaces have
been tested in the past, including touch screens, tablets, computer
screens with push buttons. As voting from home (Internet/telephone
polling) raises far greater issues of transparency, such methods would not
be under consideration.
Special interfaces for the handicapped: As there are segments of the
population that are blind, or otherwise physically disabled, the voting
interface would need to ensure that they are able to cast their vote.
Methods include audio input devices, braille readers, and easy access to
polling booths. The UI would also need to account for illiteracy among
voters by using symbols/pictures.
Result output interfaces: While some voting machines only use digital
displays, some come with printers. In this case, for greater transparency
and circulation of results, it would be ideal to have machines that print out
the results when polls are closed.
Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT): In order to ensure verification of
vote-casting, each machine should also print out a receipt when a vote has
been cast. The resultant paper trail ensures that post-election audit is
better conducted.
Result transmission system: There are 2 options for result transmission to
central counting systems. Digital transmission through the Internet,
telephone, mobile phone or satellite connection is one option. The second
is physical transmission using electronic storage media. Again, to ensure
transparency and efficient transmission, digital transmission would be a
better option. The simplest way to do this would be through the Internet,
but that leaves the system open to hacking and interception. Another way

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might be to set up a dedicated intranet that would only be for the ECP
polling booths.
Result tabulation system: When voting closes, each machine would
transmit results to the results processing centres, where the results for
each specific district or region would be automatically tabulated.
Result publication system: Both preliminary and final results would need to
be displayed to the general public, probably through a website. Again,
maintaining security against online threats would be integral.
Confirmation code system: This improves end-to-end verifiability of votes
by allowing voters to individually verify that their vote has been cast,
unmodified, in the final tally. Different options include Scantegrity, which is
an add-on for optical scan voting systems, as well as Punchscan and
ThreeBallot, which require greater changes to polling place procedures
and equipment.

Type of e-voting system used

The e-voting system recommended for implementation is using Direct recording
electronic (DRE) voting machines. While DRE machines come with or without
VVPAT (see above), for optimum verifiability, it is recommended to use VVPATenabled systems.

Voting Environment
E-Voting, due to its nature, can either be conducted in controlled or uncontrolled
environments. Uncontrolled environments are those where the Election
Commission has no supervision over the voting environment, and the device
used to vote is not under their control. This raises issues about secrecy of the
vote, influencing votes through family pressure or external intimidation. It is
better, therefore, that the voting environment be controlled, through polling
stations under the supervision of ECP staff.

Voting options
There is also the decision of allowing alternative options, offering traditional
voting and e-Voting side-by-side, with voters choosing their preferred option.
However, since the problems that the new system aims to address lie, at least
partly, with the loopholes inherent within the traditional procedure, it is
recommended to offer only e-Voting options. Moreover, offering options would
also require a system to be set up to integrate the results from the two different
systems, resulting in additional costs.

Implementation Strategy & Managing Change

The ultimate goal of implementing the new system is to build a credible new
electoral process that has the publics trust and confidence. This will be built
through two pillars. First, establishing a socio-political structure that is

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supportive, and Second, a strong operational/technical plan that ensures that the
system will be effective.

Socio-political structure
E-voting systems take away a lot of the responsibility from polling station officers
and transfer it to the central election administration body, in this case, the ECP.
While this results in the minimization of fraud and manipulation at the polling
station level, it raises the risk of such actions at the central level. This might not
be a problem if the general public trusts the ECP, but if there is mistrust in the
Commission, then the entire process is mistrusted. The Institute on Democracy
and Electoral Assistance sets out the following characteristics about a credible
Election administration body:

Independence
Impartiality
Integrity
Transparency
Efficiency
Professionalism
Service-mindedness

If the ECP can establish these characteristics through a coordinated PR

campaign, then there will be greater stakeholder buy-in for the new system.
In addition, there is a greater problem of mistrust in the broader electoral
system, and there is a need to educate voters on how the new system will
benefit them as compared to the status quo.

Political Consensus
There is also the need for a political consensus behind the system. Different
political parties might oppose the system for different reasons. Some might
oppose it on principle, while others might have concerns about its technical
capability. Still others will fear that the new system might give an advantage to
their opponents, or that other parties might get more credit for implementing
this system. It is, thus, very important to build multiparty support in the approval
of the legislation required to bring the new system, and maintain it throughout
the implementation phase. It would also be advantageous introduce the new
system as a source of political and national pride, by modernising and
improving the democratic process in the nation.

Social Context
Major social actors, including NGOs and experts will have concerns about the
new system. In order to build social support, it is important to keep them
involved in the process, by providing them with information about the planned
system, and by giving them the opportunity to raise their concerns about the
process so that they can be addressed. Computer security experts will have
concerns about the integrity of the electronic system. Working with them to
address weaknesses and having frank dialogue about the trade-offs would go a
long way towards mitigating these concerns. Stakeholders would also see this as
an unnecessary expenditure that takes away funds that might need to be spent
on ensuring necessities for the poor. Educating them in taking the long-view
benefits of this system with regards to social development would ensure support.
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In conclusion, while implementing the process in the operational/technical
context might take a relatively smaller amount of time, ensuring socio-political
support will require a greater investment in time, but it will ensure that the
project does not get stuck in limbo or is not deemed a failure due to small
mistakes.

Operational/Technical Structure
Socio-political support would grant credibility to the new system but, at the end
of the day, if the technical and operational infrastructure that will support the
system is not up to the task, the entire project will be at risk. It is important,
therefore to establish trust by ensuring that the e-voting system is built on strong
technical foundations.

Capacity building
The first, and most critical, aspect of this is to immediately start capacity
building measures in the Election Commission. An important task in the any
electoral process is for the Election Commission to retain oversight, control and
ownership of the system. Despite using multiple vendors and outsourcing some
of the tasks, the ECP will be expected to be fully aware of the entire process from
start to finish, and to deal with any issues or weaknesses in a transparent and
efficient manner. This will require competence in management and technical
areas, and the ECP will need to ensure that its human resource is adequately
trained.
In addition to the above areas, the ECP will also need to train its staff in the
procedures and protocols in the new system, to ensure smooth and successful
elections.
Lastly, a campaign to educate voters is also essential. This campaign will not
only deal with the importance of voter registration and participating in the vote,
but also how to navigate the new system, the need for this new system, and the
credibility of the entire process.

Commercial
The commercial aspects of the project are also very important. A comprehensive
cost-benefit analysis as part of the overall feasibility study is critical.
Making the lease-or-buy decision is important at this stage. As all ICT equipment
has small replacement and upgrade cycles, a long election cycle (such as the 5
year period between national elections) will make leasing a more cost-efficient
option.
Making a clear and detailed list of requirements for different items is also very
important. The criteria need to be set by the ECP and free from the influence of
any vendors. Time will need to be spent with bid evaluation boards to explain the
specifications required in order to ensure that the most suitable bid is selected.
The procurement process will be a very critical phase. Very careful deadlines
need to be set with appropriate buffer times to mitigate risk of delays. The
procurement process needs to be transparent and open to avoid any accusations
of corruption. Vendors also need to be vetted to ensure there is no personal or
political bias that would affect the system. The contract should be awarded after

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short-listed candidates are evaluated through pilot tests in order to reveal critical
system weaknesses.
The system should also be certified by trusted certification agencies that have
the confidence of all key stakeholders. Such an agency should be independent,
impartial and free from the influence of any of the stakeholders.

Legal framework
The new e-Voting system will change the process of elections in a significant way.
The ECP will even need to engage in interactions with institutions that might be
outside of its mandate. Therefore, all adjustments that need to be made to the
legal framework should be identified.
The wordings of existing legislation with respect to elections should be
scrutinized in order to determine the changes in terminology and procedures that
will need to be legalized. In addition, scrutiny of these documents will also
identify the standards that the nation has set for elections, and whether the new
system conforms to these standards or not.
In light of the IT expertise required, inter-institutional arrangements between the
ECP and other bodies might need to be expanded through further legislation.
These include data exchange for automated identification of voters, dealing with
electoral disputes that might arise from the new system and others.
A legal reform/review process must therefore go hand in hand with the technical
adoption of the system in order to ensure maximum integration between the new
system and the legal framework that it needs.

Approach
A phased approach to the project will be ideal, with the different phases given
below.

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Identify,
Define, and
specify
requirements

Build
capacity in
the ECP

Understand
and evaluate
trade-offs

Update the
legal
framework

Procure and
implement
the
technology

Educate the
citizens

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References:
1. ACE, "Electronic Voting Systems"
URL: http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/et/eth/eth02/eth02b/

2. ACE, "Overview of Elections and Technology"

URL: http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/et/eth/eth02/eth02b/default

3.Cetinkaya, O. and Cetinkaya, D. (2007). Verification and validation issues in

electronic voting, Electronic journal of e-government.
4. Gritzalis, D. Secure Electronic Voting 2003.

5. Analysis of Security Requirements for Cryptographic Voting Protocols ,IEEE ,

(2008).

6. Data-monitor, (2008).

7. Robert Krimmer (Ed.). "Electronic Voting "2006

URL : http://neu.e-voting.cc/wp-content/uploads/Proceedings
%202006/Proceedings2006_GESAMT.pdf#page=16
8. John turner "International Experience with E-Voting"
URL: http://www.ifes.org/Content/Publications/News-inBrief/2012/June/~/media/Files/Publications/Reports/2012/EVote_International_Exp
erience_2012.pdf
9. "Report of the National Workshop on Internet Voting:
''Issues and Research Agenda''
(March 2001)"
URL:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EMTEL/Conference/papers/Oostveen.pd
f
10. URL: http://www.verifiedvoting.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/09/NSFInternetVotingReport.pdf
11. http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/2006-07/electronicvoting/index_files/page0002.html
12. Introducing Electronic Voting: Essential Considerations Policy Paper by IDEA

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13. Goldsmith, B, Electronic Voting & Counting Technologies A Guide to
Conducting Feasibility Studies, IFES

E-Voting in Pakistan|Concept paper