Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has approved a new resolution to extend the period source codes of electronic voting machines and the electronic voting system must be available for scrutiny by the civil society.
With the resolution, source codes must be available for inspection 12 months before the first round of elections takes place - the previous deadline was 6 months prior to the elections. According to TSE minister Luis Roberto Barroso, the decision to anticipate access to electoral systems is part of initiatives aimed to improve good practice and the need to strengthen the transparency of the electoral process, "especially regarding the process of development and auditing of the electronic voting system."
Last month, TSE announced the creation of a new body aimed at enhancing transparency and security of the electoral process. The Election Transparency Commission (CTE) is aimed at increasing the participation of experts, representatives of civil society and public institutions in the inspection and auditing of the electoral process.
The members of the CTE will be working with the Court in the analysis of its action plan to increase the transparency of the elections. The group of specialists will also monitor and supervise the development phases of the electoral systems and the auditing of the electoral process. They will also be expected to provide opinion and advice on enhancements that may be required.
The technology-enabled mechanism of trust could make online balloting more realistic.
Read nowIn addition to representatives of institutions and public bodies, a number of information technology specialists and members of the civil society will be part of the CTE. The group of tech experts includes the academics Andr