The Government has approved the preliminary report of thePreliminary draft law regulating the electronic voting procedure for Catalans living abroad, in order to guarantee the right to vote for this group and overcome the obstacles that the current system poses to these citizens. This is a commitment acquired by the Government after in the lasteres elections to the Parliament of Catalonia on September 27, only 14.781 Catalans resident abroad, out of the 196.065 registered, voted due to difficulties in the system.
The Minister of Government, Public Administration and Housing, Meritxell Borràs, has assured that with the approval of this procedure an “important step” is taken to guarantee the right to vote of all Catalan citizens, especially of the residents abroad , because voting by mail or at an embassy "does not seriously guarantee the right to vote." "It simply came to our notice then. Now all that is needed is political will ", said Borràs, who explained that the aim of the Government is to have the electronic voting platform ready in ten months.
The Preliminary Draft Law is based on the powers recognized in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which establishes the ability to articulate its own electoral system and, consequently, to have a law that regulates specific or partial aspects of the electoral system, as is the case with the electronic voting procedure for residents abroad. Thus, it is a draft law that regulates exclusively the electronic voting system, which will be complementary to other current voting systems. The rest of the electoral process will continue to be governed by state electoral regulations.
The text validated by the Government defines the principles underlying the law, the electronic voting procedure, the mechanism for identifying the voter on the Internet voting platform and the exercise of the right to vote by electronic means. The regulation of the electronic voting process provides that, once the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia are called, voters will be able to choose to vote by electronic means, and will have to register on a specific portal and, once the identity is validated, it will be done. reach the voter with credentials to vote safely.
Voting may take place via a computer, tablet or mobile phone during the voting period by mail from abroad. The ballot will be kept in an electronic ballot box until the day of the general ballot.
The regulations also regulate the custody of votes, the guarantees of the vote and the procedure in case of possible incidents. The document also provides for an audit of the electronic voting process to ensure that the entire procedure is secret, reliable and transparent, and contains sections dedicated to the protection of personal data.
The preliminary report of the Preliminary Draft Law regulating the electronic voting procedure for Catalans residing abroad has been prepared by the Department of Government, Public Administration and Housing, which is responsible for electoral processes.
The Executive has also approved the action plan that should make it possible to implement electronic voting. This plan consists of six major phases:
- definition of the legal framework, that is to say, the approval of the law that must regulate the procedure of voting by Internet for the Catalans residing abroad
- administrative contracting to acquire or contract electronic voting services over the Internet, which includes the possibility of implementing a permanent platform that, in addition to being used in parliamentary elections, also serves for popular consultations promoted by the Generalitat or other Catalan public administrations
- technological implementation, which must be done following the principles of transparència, integrity, privacy and reliability
- communication plan, which must define the different actions that will be carried out to promote and encourage the knowledge of Internet voting, through campaigns aimed at citizens
- pilot tests, which will be done to verify the reliability and quality of the service and also to publicize the new voting system
- effective implementation of the system in the electoral process
The Plan to implement electronic voting for Catalans residing abroad has involved the participation of technicians from the departments of Governance, Public Administrations and Housing; the Presidency, and Institutional and Foreign Affairs and Relations. TransparènciaTo draft it, three working groups (legal, technical and communication) and a committee of experts made up of around thirty people were created.
