BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With countries across the globe proactively addressing the need for election and governance modernization, 2014 has set a benchmark of governments embracing innovative technology for more secure, transparent, accessible and efficient elections. Key in supporting this shift has been the leverage of Scytl secure technology by 30% of the countries that held binding elections in 2014.
“We are extremely proud to see Scytl eDemocracy solutions helping both public and private organizations around the globe positively impact the lives of citizens by providing higher acceptability of election and governance processes and outcome,” says Pere Valles, CEO of Scytl.
Significant highlights in the adoption of innovative, secure and scalable online election technology include:
- European Union: Scytl Election Night Reporting successfully deployed to publish the election results for the largest multi-nation election worldwide.
- India: Scytl Online Voting securely used in one of the largest elections worldwide.
- France: Scytl Online voting leveraged not only in 3 ministries (Education, Foreign Affairs and Interior) but supported the largest online voting election worldwide.
The uptake of new technology coexists with a global paradigm present in 2014 which looks to continue in 2015. In emerging democracies, citizens continue to make their demands of their right to vote and protests known in the streets; while in more mature democracies, voter participation in many cases continues to decline.
Independent of country and stage of democracy, enabling innovative and proven election specific technology should lead to higher participation amongst voters and create more transparent and efficient electoral processes at all stages of the election: from campaign financing, to online voting, through to results consolidation and reporting .
Analyst perspectives – Independent analysts and association worldwide continue to delve into the benefits that innovative election modernization, online voting and eGovernance technology provides: IDC Implementing End-to-End Verifiable Online Voting , IDC Delivering End-to-End Election Modernization Roadmaps , Frost & Sullivan Government Online Voting and Election Modernization Innovation and Leadership, Ovum An End-to-End Election Modernization Platform and Forrester Research.
Europe – Trends show that, in addition to more efficient election management systems, a strong interest is emerging for embracing online channels: online voting, online referendums and online voter registration. In addition, the need for better engagement between citizens and their political parties and governments looks to be met with an increase in eGovernance technology. Countries and governments supported by Scytl´s eDemocracy platform include the European Union (28 countries and 24 languages), Norway, Iceland, France, and Switzerland.
Asia Pacific – The interest and need to implement online channels in a region with a significant overseas population continues to grow. Creating efficiencies via online channels for voter registration, voting and results transmission continues on the rise paired with an increased interest in ensuring participatory initiatives via eDemocracy and online consultation projects. Key leverage of Scytl online voting technology is already being realized in India, Australia and New Zealand.
Africa and The Middle East – Election technology projects continue to focus most prevalently around biometric voter registration, online channels to help improve participation, more efficient online training and online results transmission both at home and abroad, followed by improved eGovernance processes to optimize Parliamentary interaction. Countries in the region successfully using Scytl technology include, amongst others, Libya, Ethiopia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
Latin America – Strong focus in the efficient and transparent transmission of results continues to be key in the region, followed by a keen interest in leveraging online channels for election modernization (online voting and evoting) and improved participatory and citizen engagement technology for new digital democracy and online referendums. Leading the pack in election modernization is Peru, with Brazil leveraging Scytl online voting technology in over 25 private sector elections.
North America – U.S. election technology trends include increasing bi-partisan support for online voter registration, growing adoption of consolidated Vote Centers and early voting which require electronic poll books and dynamic ballots, as well as further demand for secure electronic ballot delivery solutions. Canada continues to grow its investment in online voting technology for improved security, accessibility and participation. Regional leverage of Scytl solutions includes 20 municipalities in Canada, and over 1,600 jurisdictions covering 37 states in the U.S. Both countries are also looking at processes to drive improved citizen engagement and participation with online citizen portals and consultations.
About Scytl
Scytl is the global leader in secure election management, electronic voting and eGovernance solutions. Specializing in election modernization technologies, Scytl offers the first end-to-end election management and voting platform, providing the highest security and transparency standards currently available. Scytl has capitalized on its more than 18 years of research to develop election-specific cryptographic security technology protected by more than 40 international patents and patent applications, positioning Scytl as the company with the largest patent portfolio of the industry.
Scytl’s solutions have been successfully used in over 38 countries across the globe over the last 10 years, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ecuador, France, Norway, Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the UAE, India, Iceland and Australia. Scytl is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, with strategic offices in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Peru and Greece, as well as field offices in the UK, Ukraine, Mexico, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh and Australia. For more information, visit www.scytl.com.
