Delia Ferreira Rubio, chairman of Transparency International, criticized the Central Electoral Board’s (JCE) proposal to install automated voting equipment during her visit to Santo Domingo, 19 to 21 February 2019. She reiterated the comments in an interview with the Corripio media group.
During the 2016 election, a previous JCE board installed electronic vote counting equipment that cost the nation around US$45 million, but failed to serve its purpose on election day. The new JCE board has warehoused the equipment and discarded the use of the devices for the 2020 election.
Now, the new JCE board under president Julio Castaños Guzmán is proposing to install a more comprehensive electronic voting system. The system would be put to test for the 6 October 2019 primaries that five political parties have signed up for, including the ruling PLD party. The JCE has already announced it would open an international bidding process to choose the supplier of the estimated 5,000 automated voting devices.
But Ferreira Rubio alerts that automated voting have proven to be not trustworthy and this is why the system is only used in four countries – Venezuela, Congo, India and Brazil. When electronic voting was recently used in Venezuela, she said the vendors acknowledged fraudulent tallying was over one million votes.
Making matters worse, Ferreira said that the model proposed by the JCE connects the ID of the voter with the system device. She says all digital systems are hackable and this would put at risk the voter’s right to cast a secret ballot, a core value in democracy.
“There is no treaty that says that elections have to be fast and modern, what they say is that the vote needs to be secret to guarantee the free right of choice of the voter,” she explained.
Ferreira also downplayed the argument that electronic voting is better for the environment. She said that the batteries that the devices use are just as damaging as the cost in trees for the printing of the ballots.
Ferreira is a lawyer, author and professor of law at the Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires. During her visit, Ferreira attended various exchange activities, dialogues, talks with civil society organizations, women’s organizations, businessmen, academics, political parties, the media, government representatives, public prosecutors and international organizations.
She also held meetings with members of the Citizen Participation, their local partner, to exchange views on future programs and processes in the Dominican Republic in the fight against corruption and impunity. She gave a presentation on 20 February 2019 about Citizen Action for Inclusive Public Administration that Guarantees Human Rights” hosted by Participación Ciudadana together with Oxfam RD, Ciudad Alternativa and Fundación Solidaridad.
On Thursday, 21 February at 5pm she is scheduled to speak at the UASD Law School on “Corruption and Impunity in the Region: Role of Civil Society.”
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El Dia
21 February 2019