The fifth and final edition of the Modern Democracy News for 2011 is now available for download!

With this edition you receive once again an insight of the latest news, trends and developments in the world of e-voting.

The newsletter is a PDF document available for download (LINK)

The current edition covers the following topics:
- EVOTE2012: How to submit your paper!
- New Working Paper of E-Voting.CC regarding i-voting for shareholder meetings
- Updated of the world map of e-voting
- Electronic voting plans of Belgium
- E-voting in parliaments
- E-voting in the United Kingdom
- Shortnews & Upcoming Events

We wish all subscribers of the Modern Democracy News Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope you continue reading our news in 2012!

We are very much looking forward to your feedback and hope you enjoy reading this issue of our Newsletter.
You can always reach us at office@e-voting.cc

E-Voting.CC went on a quest for the roots of e-voting and had to go back to the middle of 19th century, when the idea of voting with technological means emerged. We draw a map which analyzes the developments of electronic voting from back then to now.

Here are some key findings of the historical research:
• 1859: Werner von Siemens develops the first electronic decision making application
• 1892: E-voting is used the first time in public in Lockport, New York, US, with an EVM of Jacob H. Meyr.
• 1960: the first computer for tabulating votes have been developed
• 1990: Devices with touch screen or key board interfaces and online technology are developed
• 1996: first internet voting at candidate selection of the Reform Party (US)

For further dates and facts you download a copy of this map here: (LINK)

Is there any important date missing?
Please let us know by email to office(at)e-voting.cc.

The US Election Assistance Commission conducted a "Survey of Internet Voting" projects from January 2000 to November 2011 worldwide.
The study examines the voting system architectures, the standards for designing and/or testing these systems and evaluation and management of system risks. It provides detailed descriptions of internet voting, including election data, technology provider and participating voter.

31 internet voting projects in 13 countries were examined. The survey identifies some interesting results and facts about the internet voting use.

You can download the survey @ http://bit.ly/oHYlac

Yesterday, municipal and county elections were upheld in Norway. Next to the paper ballots in the polling stations, Internet voting was established in 10 municipalities.

Here are the first key facts:

• The total voter turnout increased with the use of internet voting. 63% of eligible voters cast their vote, which is 6% more than in the last election.

• 55320 votes were cast online.

• 384 votes were rejected, because there were also paper ballots and 1787 were rejected because of other reasons.

This figures show that the e-voting project was very successful. It was a pilot project in order to implement the system in all municipalities in Norway in upcoming elections.

The OSCE was invited to observe the electronic voting.
Find more information about the e-voting project @ LINK

The Managing Director of E-Voting.CC Manuel Kripp participated in the Assembly for Democracy in Asia, which was held on 22.-23.8.2011 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Manuel moderated the workshop “Technology and Democracy”, which stresses out the important role of technology in the development of democracy. It is a development from face-2-face to a global society, which requires new tools for executing democratic tools for especially the younger generation.

Presenter in this workshop were:

• Tomas Jurczyk, Doctoral Student at the University of Lodz,
• Victor Hong, Student at the National Chaiyi University,
• Jia Yee Wu, Student at the National Tsing Hua University,
• Jennifer Butler, Doctoral Student at the National Chengchi University.

The workshop raised interesting discussion about advantages and challenges of technology in democracy and voting. There are many advantages of technology, like spreading information, enabling direct citizen participation and bridging. But the challenges are also manifold, ranging from the digital divide, control and censorship and the necessity of training and education.
Different forms of technology can be used for democratic issues. Social networks play a crucial role in democratic developments as one can see for example in the Arabic revolution. Politicians and other public players use technology to broadcast information and events, like the live broadcast of ballot counting in Taiwanese elections.

The overall conclusion were that democratic values can be facilitated or enhanced with technology, but not created. This is also valid for the introduction of electronic voting.

We want to thank the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy for the kind invitation to participate in and moderate the workshop and are happy about the interesting outcomings of the conference.

ICEGOV 2011 - 5th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance - is calling for participation.

Date: 26-29 September, 2011
Location: Tallinn, Estonia

General Information:
This year’s ICEGOV will be focused on open governance. 350 leading experts and practitioners in electronic governance from government, academia, industry, NGOs and international organizations from 60 countries are expected.

Further information:
Check the conference website www.icegov.org

From today on all information regarding the EVOTE2012, the 5th International Conference on Electronic Voting, is available at www.e-voting.cc/2012



The EVOTE2012 takes place from 12-14 July in Castle Hofen, Bregenz, Austria.

The first Call for Papers is available here (LINK).

All information will be available at the conference website: www.e-voting.cc/2012

REVOTE2011 Key facts:

Workshop Date: August 29, 2011
Early Registration Deadline: July 19, 2011
Late Registration Deadline August 12th, 2011

General information

The 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Requirements Engineering for Electronic Voting Systems (REVOTE), Trento, Italy - August 29, 2011. In conjunction with 19th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference 2011 http://re11.fbk.eu/. Trento is a small city in the middle of the Alps whose center has a strong Renaissance mark, including several buildings with frescos. Also notable in Trento are Castello del Buonconsiglio and several medieval churches, among which the Duomo. The surroundings of Trento offer beautiful naturalistic tracks on top of mountains (e.g., Monte Bondone), around the numerous lakes, or nearby ancient castles. More information about Trento is available at: http://www.apt.trento.it.

REVOTE is devoted to gather researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry in order to get a better understanding of the strengths and the weaknesses of existing techniques and thus lay the foundations for engineering, designing, implementing, as well as deploying a new generation of more secure and robust technologies for polling stations.

The list of accepted papers can be found here (LINK)

You can access the workshop program here (LINK)

To register see the conference registration page here (LINK)

Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government 2012: CeDEM12

- Date: 3-4 May 2012
- Location: Danube University Krems, Austria
- Call for Papers: http://tiny.cc/CfP_CeDEM12
- SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 12 December 2011

- Further Information: http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/cedem

CALL FOR PAPERS

eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government JeDEM

Special Issue Vol. 3 (2): Open Government and Open Information
http://www.jedem.org/announcement/view/4

Guest Editors
* Olivier Glassey, IDHEAP, Lausanne
* Theresa Pardo, University at Albany, State University of New York
* Efthimios Tambouris, University of Macedonia

CFP: Concepts and policies that emphasise the idea of openness (Open Government, Open Data, Open Access) are currently discussed with view to their potential to strengthen transparency and accountability. They are seen as promising ideas for the vitalisation of citizens interest in politics, but also for economic and scientific innovation. These developments are expected to lead to more engagement and collaboration within public institutions and the development of respective tools and services. [...]

Relevant articles from international and interdisciplinary perspectives are welcomed from across the social and technical sciences. We also encourage authors to hand in policy papers and case studies; critical reflection of existing methods/approaches.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 12 Sept. 2011

Articles submitted for consideration must be written in English.
Length of paper: 8,000-12,000 words, including footnotes.

Further Information: http://www.jedem.org/