Electronic Voting in SA: The Role of Civil Society and Citizens Towards a Free and Fair Local Government Elections

By Maria Goyayi

The persisting COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered life in so many ways including interaction with each others, conducting business and also political affairs. The exponential dissemination of the coronavirus, the morbidity and mortality associated with the pandemic brought the world to a complete standstill in early 2020. This has forced the world to limit human interactions and opt for alternative approaches for interaction mostly through the use of technology. The COVID-19 pandemic therefore presents serious dangers for the integrity of the right to vote. In line with global initiatives to control the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa (SA) instituted a number of measures including a strict national lockdown, social distancing, curfews, banning of gatherings, wearing of masks, washing and sanitization of hands. Such measures are likely to significantly disrupt social, political and economic activities. From a political life perspective, specifically focusing on the election processes, such measures are likely to constraints certain political activities such as political party rallies and campaigns as well as voting. Thus the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of SA and other political stakeholders should take cognizance of the careful need for balance between safeguarding democratic rights and freedoms through genuine elections and taking steps to protect the health and safety of citizens. Consequently, digitizing the election process is viewed as an essential and effective way for striking the balance between public health concerns and credible elections. With the local government election in the vicinity amid the persisting COVID-19 pandemic, the IEC has considered exploring the use of electronic systems election processes including electronic voting (e-voting) systems. e-Voting encompasses the use of electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting of votes. In the midst of the pandemic, e-voting system assist in limiting crowds and human contact, thereby allowing voters to participation in election processes yet with relatively lower health risks. In SA the IEC has launched a number of initiatives including revamping its website to facilitate online registration, online voters details verification and reporting of any disinformation. Voters in SA can now confirm their registration online on the website, on the IEC APP and by calling the contact centre at 0800 11 8000. The MyIEC provides all voters and election information in one place while facilitates voters address verification. Moreover, the IEC has set up an election website which provides links to facilitate citizens to locate their voting stations, check their registration status, report on digital disinformation, follow-up on election results and on how to lodge for an objection.

Despite, the potentials in facilitation of election processes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some challenges associated with e-voting systems. The challenges mostly associated with the human part in the use of technology as compared to the technical aspects of the systems. For instance, e-voting systems are known for being misused to manipulate and undermine elections to create undue advantages for incumbents. Corruption, geopolitical interests and determination to win by incumbents have significantly distorted the integrity of elections in SA. Technology can be used as an enabler or crippling agent for these malice to thrive or as a weapon and a shield against such. Therefore, deploying e-voting systems while underlying, structural problems remain unaddressed, risks worsening the democratic regression spreading across SA. Technology is not a ‘morally neutral good’ but only mirrors the intent and values of its makers and users. e-Voting can only be as good as the society that deploys and plans it. While e-voting systems maybe useful and necessary in the upcoming election, it requires multi-stakeholder partnership to collaborate with the IEC to facilitate a fair and free election amid the disruptive COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, stakeholders including individual citizen as well as civil societies such as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) have a role to play and responsibilities to fulfill towards ensuring the integrity of the upcoming local government election in SA.

· Advocacy for cultural change – In a nation that is battling a long-standing history of discrimination and other social malice such as corruption and violence, cultural reform is essential for ensuring election integrity. Civil societies should work hand-in-hand with citizens, electoral management bodies such as the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Chapter 9 institutions such as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the government in developing policies and implement strategies geared towards cultural reforms, social cohesion and civic educated citizenry. Civil societies should advocate for cultural change that focuses on inclusivity. In building their social capitals, civil societies should instill cultural values, behaviors and beliefs of moral integrity, love, tolerance and inclusiveness among South Africans.

· Upholding the value that truth matters in democracy – Civil societies and the citizens have the responsibility of ensure that truth is upheld in democratic activities including elections. Truth which is the property of being in accordance with fact or reality, that is the representation of reality or a correspondence to it in terms of beliefs, propositions or declarative statements is critical for democracy to prevail. As truth is important to trust, civil societies and citizens in general have the responsibility querying any misconduct or any activity that taints trust in the election process. While most political campaigns are framed largely by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy as well as the repeated assertion of talking points to which factual rebuttals are ignored, civil societies and the citizens have a role to uphold and redress such with truthful information. Civil societies and the SA citizenry should neither facilitate, propagate nor support, untruths, lies and any misinformation.

· This may include holding accountable those who systematically propagate disinformation in election. Also, it may include ensuring greater access to truthful information pertaining to equal rights, fairness and justice. Moreover, this may include ensuring that electronic platforms convey credible election information. Civil societies should take up the role of condemning any disinformation, address the disinformation by providing clarifications where possible and also promote citizens awareness on how to verify information before circulating in their networks.

· Informed and Civic educated society – Additionally, civil societies and the citizens in general have a role of providing civic education and information pertaining to the election. The IEC needs to collaborate to with civil societies in ensuring the right civic education and election information is provided. One commendable initiative in SA is the collaboration between IEC, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and major social media platforms in combating disinformation, in the run-up to, during and beyond the November 1, 2021 Municipal Elections. Civil societies are expected to promote an informed and civic educated society. This may including informing the society of all government initiatives taken as well as the justification for decisions made concerning the upcoming election.

· Responsible usage of technology – Both civil societies and the citizens at large have the responsibility of ensuring responsible usage of technology, especially for election purposes. Citizens should be made aware and sensitized to use platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and the likes to share only verified information from credible sources. Civil societies should explore using citizens as champions for promoting responsible usage of technology, for example e-voting systems. They should also assist the government to ensure that appropriate cyber laws are in place and that the citizenry is made aware of the repercussions of wrong usage of technology.

In conclusion, both civil societies and citizens of South Africa have a responsibility in ensuring that the upcoming local government election is free and fair. Both need to assume different roles; as educators, promoters and watchdogs for issues pertaining to the election process. Critical to their task is ensuring appropriate usage of e-voting systems for dissemination and verification of information as well as for voting and counting of votes. Moreover, as civil societies and citizens are beyond the control of state, they have sufficient power to prevent all that is not good in the common interest of people. Consequently, they have a watchdog role to play concerning the integrity of the IEC in terms of the legislative framework guiding the election process. Moreover, they have a role to safeguard the integrity of the e-voting systems and other technologies being used. Also, they need to ensure transparency and the efficiency of the e-voting systems and the electoral process as whole. To the build the technical capacity required to guarantee such efficiencies, they must work collaboratively with tech companies to ensure they are involved in dialogues about the use of technologies in voting processes.

Maria Lauda Goyayi is a researcher at the School of Management, IT and Public Governance, UKZN. She writes in her personal capacity.