THE BENEFITS AND RISKS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES IN ORGANIZATION OF ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUMS

Abstract

Up-to-date electronic means of voting are widely used in election campaigns and referendum in the Russian Federation, including State Automated System “VIBORY”, Ballot Processing Complexes “BPC”, Electronic Voting Complexes “EVC”. As for the remote voting via the Internet, this procedure cannot be completely implemented because there is insufficient capacity to protect transmission of election results and provide the secrecy of voting. In addition, if there is no need for the voter to be involved in electoral procedures such as self preparation, arrival to the polling station and voting, it can lead to the marginalization of elections and decreasing the significance of own suspected decisions. At the same time, the possibility of carrying out the meetings of the Election Commissions using IT will save time and money. Also preliminary collection of signatures to support candidates may be appropriate using Internet or SMS.