The Certification of E-Voting Mechanisms. Fighting against Opacity

Abstract

Many countries are using certification procedures to guarantee the full compliance of e-voting mechanisms with democratic standards, but the data generated by these analysis is normally handled almost secretly. Given that transparency is a key principle to guarantee citizen's confidence in the electoral process, this opacity would only be acceptable after a correct balance of the concurrent interests. The paper provides specific data on the certification mechanisms of some countries and assesses the feasibility of a disclosure of the certification reports.