Saving Democracy from Technology
Professor MSO Joseph Kiniry, DTU Compute, guest professor at ITU

For the past several decades governments around the world have been endangering their own democracies though the reckless use of computers in elections, or what is colloquially known as e-voting.

Politicians, bureaucrats, and the general public have high expectations for e-voting. Unfortunately, voluminous evidence shows that e-voting makes elections more expensive, does not increase voter turnout, and removes public control from democracies. Consequently, virtually the entire computer science community is against the introduction of computers in elections. All hope is not lost though. Computer science does have a role in elections. We can improve the correctness and accuracy of elections - not by putting computers in voting booths, but in other, more subtle and surprising, ways.

eVote – a choice for the future?
Project Manager Jacob Scjødt Nielsen, The Danish Board of Technology

In 2010 The Danish Board of Technology initiated the project "eVote – a challenge for the future?" and their March 2011 report highlights the importance of Denmark making some individual experiences on the use of eVote. Recently, the government conducted a hearing on the use of eVote and the parliament is expecting a motion for a resolution before summer.

The report states that elections most likely will be electronic within the next 50 years and the electoral process therefore needs to evolve with society. The report puts forward nine recommendations on how digital elections should be organized.

The event is a closed event.