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Early Voting – Essential Safeguards for Electoral Integrity

Date
03 November 2020
Time
11:00-13:00 Brussels/CET
Location
Online

Opportunities for early voting have increasingly been adopted by countries in Europe. Early voting allows a voter to cast her/his ballot in-person ahead of the main and the last voting day. Thus, unlike in other Special Voting Arrangements (SVAs), voting is still conducted in a controlled environment. While the method broadens the opportunity to vote, it adds complexity to the tasks of electoral management bodies (EMBs) who need to ensure that votes are cast and counted properly. This complexity is due to the increased needs for safe storage of sensitive electoral materials, processing and reconciling information in voter registers, and ensuring that no multiple voting can take place.

This roundtable meeting brings together electoral practitioners to foster knowledge exchange on the legal and procedural frameworks, and experiences in implementing early voting. Representatives of EMBs will present key variables for safeguarding the integrity of early voting in their countries. International IDEA and the Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) will present comparative data and main aspects for successful implementation of the early voting. This will be complemented by reflections from international election observation and expertise provider organizations such as OSCE/ODIHR.

This is the second of a series of webinars that International IDEA and the ACEEEO are organizing to address questions raised by decision-makers and electoral assistance providers on the use, adaptation and scaling up of SVAs under a short time frame while ensuring robust and transparent processes that ensure elections are inclusive and accessible to all voters. 

 

Agenda

11:00 - 11:15
Welcoming remarks
Sam Van der Staak, Head, Regional Europe Programme, International IDEA
Zsolt Szolnoki, Secretary General, Association of Electoral Authorities of Europe
 
Overview of trends and key challenges
Peter Wolf, Senior Expert, ICTs, Elections and Democracy, International IDEA
Moderated by ACEEEO
11:15-11:30
Early voting in Lithuania
Laura Matjošaitytė, Chairperson, The Central Electoral Commission, Lithuania
Questions & Answers
11:30 - 11:45
Early Voting in Slovenia
Dušan Vučko, Director, Secretariat of the State Election Commission, Slovenia
Questions & Answers
11:45 - 12:00
Early Voting in Portugal       
Carla Luís, Coordinator, VotedHR - Elections, Democracy and Human Rights and Board Member, Electoral Commission, Portugal
Questions & Answers
12:00- 12:15
Early Voting in Finland 
Juha Mäenalusta, Information Security Specialist, Legal Register Centre, Finland
Questions & Answers
12:15-12:45              
 
 
Reflections and discussion
  • Alexey Gromov, Election Advisor, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
  • Reflections, questions from other participants
12:45-13:00
Wrap up and conclusions

 

 

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS/COLLABORATORS: 

Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO)

 

RSVP/CONTACTS: 

By invitation only.  For information, please contact <g.calabro@idea.int>.

 

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