Are official election results processed by an electronic tabulation system?
Spain
Head of Electoral Co-operation Unit, Deputy Directorate General of Internal Policy and Electoral Processes, Ministry of the Interior
Organic Law 5/1985 of June 19 of the General Electoral Regime (last amended in 2015)
Press information: Elecciones al Parlamento Europeo 2014: http://elecciones.interior.es/documents/11435/15795/DOSSIER+DE+PRENSA+-+EPE+2014.pdf/3d1b5d99-f1c5-4b86-9f1d-fca433de1532
e-book: Ministerio del Interior. Direcci?n General de Política Interior:' Modernizaci?n de la gesti?n electoral. La progresiva aplicaci?n de las nuevas tecnolog?as a las elecciones'
According to Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del regimen electoral general (Electoral Act), in Spain there is not a single body in charge of all electoral[AS1] management duties, but several Public Administration bodies that work in a coordinated way, always under the supervision of the Electoral Administration that consists of a four-tiered structure (members: mainly from the judiciary): a Central Electoral Commission; 50 Provincial Electoral Commissions; 303 Zone Electoral Commissions; and, roughly, 60.000 Electoral Boards, whose members are electors randomly chosen by Municipalities from electors in the Electoral Census (permanent and monthly updated.)
The Ministry of the Interior (Directorate General of Internal Policy) plays a key role in electoral management (always under the supervision of the Electoral Administration), in nationwide Elections and Referenda, as it is charge of: the electoral budget (Parliamentary Elections Nov. 2011: 124 million Euros);logistics and technical preparations of the elections (i.e. public contracts); voter education campaigns on public Radio, TV and also online; all tasks required to ensure that Government makes the preliminary electoral results public on election day (art. 98.2 Electoral Act); implementation of regulations related to elections and accessibility; Political Parties Register; public funding of political formations; the coordination of all Administrations involved in electoral management of nationwide elections and referenda (including the Administraci?n Perif?rica del Estado, territorial delegations which represent Central Government Administration in every Spanish province); the design and development of strategies to innovate in the field of the Electoral Management (I.e. the use of ICTs etc.), running pilots in the field of elections (i.e. Electronically Managed Electoral Board –EMEB-, Accessible Ballot papers software etc.), with the previous authorization of the Central Electoral Commission.
The most intensive introduction of new technologies in the past 10 years: innovation for the dissemination of preliminary results:
In Spain, preliminary counting (public) takes place at every Electoral Board immediately after the close of polls (20:00 PM mainland time). The final counting (escrutinio general) is undertaken by the Electoral Commissions and published by the Central Electoral Commission in the Official Gazette.
In order to fulfil the Government?s obligation to disseminate the provisional electoral results on election day, the Ministry of the Interior opens a call for tenders for a service contract for the technology required for the transmission of the provisional electoral results from the Electoral Boards to the Data Dissemination National Centre(DDNC) of those results.
Representatives of the Administration are designated to gather the preliminary electoral results on election day, (the Electoral Act established that they get a copy of the Electoral Board tally sheet) as well as information regarding the opening of the polling stations, and turnout.
In the past data gathered by these Government’s representatives was reported using telephones, to the Centros de Recogida de Informaci?n (Data Collecting Center) located at each one of the 52 Central Government provincial delegations to centralize information related to the elections during polling day.
The Ministry of the Interior has been taking efforts to reduce costs and further enhance the efficiency of the results tabulation by a broad use of ICTs. Now, the Government’s representatives report the provisional results to the DDNC (Madrid) either via ‘tablets’, the Electronically Managed Electoral Board this notwithstanding some phone transmissions are still received. (Small municipalities and risk management).
In the 2008 Parliamentary Elections PDAS were used in all municipalities over 50.000 inhabitants (46% of the electoral census). In the 2011 Parliamentary Elections PDAS were used in all municipalities over 2.000 inhabitants (86% of the electoral census). In Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands: 100% of the electoral census. In 2011 mmunicipalities under 2.000 inhabitants (only 14% of the electoral census) used telephones. As regards the electronically Managed Electoral Board, in the 2011 elections 1.753 Electoral Boards in the city of Madrid used this tool.
The fast and accurate electoral provisional results’ tabulation allowed (PE 2011) the dissemination of those results to take place at 10:00 PM (Polling stations at the Canary Islands close at 21:00 PM mainland time).
The Ministry of the Interior publishes the preliminary results on election night (online/via SMS/media) as well as press conferences are held on Election Day at DDNC.
Electoral results are available at http://www.infoelectoral.interior.es/min/ and, for every nationwide Election of referendum.
As regards de innovations introduced in order to improve the electoral management these are some of the projects undertaken:
The Ministry of the Interior provides the Electoral Commissions with a software application to have access to the Political Parties’ Register certifications, as well as software (and sometimes hardware) to the 50 Provincial Election Commissions, so that the Electoral Administration can fulfil their tasks (N.B. a software application to be used by the Electoral Commissions in the final tally of the votes).
The Ministry is planning to provide an additional technical support that consists of two different software applications for the Electoral Commissions: one computer application to manage the presentation of list of candidates as well as the direct electronic connection with the Official Gazettes which have to publish the presented and the proclaimed lists of candidates approved by the Electoral Commissions (this software is planned to allow, in the future, the online presentation of the list of candidates).
As regards the technical support for Electoral Boards, it has to be said that the Electronically Managed Electoral Board (EMEB) is a set of information technology provided to make it easier for polling station staff to carry out their duties on Election Day.
Each EB comprises a president and two members, as well as two substitutes for each of these positions. The main task of the EBs is to administer voting and counting on Election Day. EB members do not receive special training, although they are provided with a training manual. Furthermore, the Ministry of the Interior, for every nationwide election or referendum, launches a special website, which among other things offered a presentation of the EBs’ functions.
After the polls close the counting of votes begins. The vote counting sheet/form that contains preliminary results is automatically filled out; the incident report form is filled out and data is electronically sent. The USB memory stick and the laptop hard drive are later erased.
In Spain, preliminary counting (public) takes place at every Electoral Board immediately after the close of polls (20:00 PM mainland time). The final counting (escrutinio general) is undertaken by the Electoral Commissions and published by the Central Electoral Commission in the Official Gazette.
In order to fulfil the Government?s obligation to disseminate the provisional electoral results on election day, the Ministry of the Interior opens a call for tenders for a service contract for the technology required for the transmission of the provisional electoral results from the Electoral Boards to the Data Dissemination National Centre (DDNC) of those results. The Ministry of the Interior has been taking efforts to reduce costs and further enhance the efficiency of the results tabulation by a broad use of ICTs. Now, the Government’s representatives report the provisional results to the DDNC (Madrid) either via ‘tablets’, the Electronically Managed Electoral Board this notwithstanding some phone transmissions are still received. (Small municipalities and risk management).
