Early Voting – Essential Safeguards for Electoral Integrity

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

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS/COLLABORATORS: 

Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO)

RSVP/CONTACTS: 

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