South Africa is considering the possibility of e-voting for future elections

The South African Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is set to discuss the possibility of electronic voting (e-voting) in the country’s future elections. The feasibility of the method will be deliberated on by stakeholders at an e-voting conference between Monday, 10 March, and Wednesday, 12 March 2025, in Cape Town. 

While confirming the development with the country’s local news outlet, IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the conference would include early discussions about e-voting in South Africa. 

The conference will be an inquiry format on the readiness of the country for an e-voting system and the availability of digital infrastructure to implement such a process. 

“(The) National Treasury is going to be part of the debate to look at the affordability of implementing e-voting. These are very initial discussions about the feasibility of e-voting in South Africa. We are not straight-jacketing the country, but we think that the country cannot ignore the debate. Let’s get into the debate and see where it takes us,” Mamabolo said.

Stating instances of countries using e-voting such as Estonia, India, Brazil, and the Philippines, Mamabolo noted that South Africa will seek help from these countries by lending from their experiences, insights and benefits of the system. 

From other countries who have tried and reverted to manual voting processes, he noted, saying “We do expect these countries to give us their own experiences in terms of having tried e-voting and having had to stop, and what were the reasons that led to the situation where they had to stop the implementation of e-voting.”

For South Africa, implementing e-voting would eliminate the need for most South Africans to stand in long queues to cast their votes, which was the case with the 2024 general elections. The long wait experienced at the polls led to several calls for an online voting system in the country. 

“The IEC should seriously consider implementing electronic online voting systems. It’s time to move away from traditional paper-based voting processes. Online voting can eliminate the need for printing ballots and manual hand counting. Embracing digital voting is the future,” said a DJ and radio presenter Jack Lekgothoane, as cited by MyBroadband. 

While the call for an e-voting system is needed in line with the digital age, developing a web application for such activity takes a lot of inputs and modalities. As cyber threat actors are globally rising, everything from programming errors to malicious actors must be considered when developing electronic voting systems.

While electronic systems can boost efficiency and speed, the fact that computers introduce new classes of problems such as ensuring accurate results and preserving voter anonymity is another issue. The addition of computers to the mix might increase the avenues where mistakes and attacks can happen.

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Countries practising e-voting

E-voting has emerged as a digital solution that allows citizens to cast their ballots via the Internet. It offers increased convenience and accessibility, especially for those living abroad or in remote areas.

Below are some countries that have adopted the online voting system.

Estonia: The Northern European country is the pioneer of online voting, being the first country to offer e-voting in national elections. Since 2005, her citizens have been able to vote online using a secure ID card system, contributing to high voter turnout and enhanced accessibility.

Canada: Online voting is available in some municipal elections in Canada, such as in the city of Markham, Ontario. The system is not yet widely adopted at the federal level but is increasingly used in local elections.

Switzerland: The European offers online voting in certain cantons for federal and local elections. The system has been used by Swiss citizens living abroad and is gradually being expanded.

United States of America: The U.S. was the first country to try using electronic voting technology in the 1960s. A mix of optical scanners and direct electronic voting is used in the country. More than 90 per cent of votes in elections are counted electronically, while a few states still rely on manual counting.

Brazil: National elections have been automated in the South American country since 2000 where citizens vote via touch screen. 

Australia: Australia has introduced online voting for specific groups, such as voters with disabilities and military personnel. The system is primarily used in regional elections, with a focus on accessibility and convenience.

Others are France, India, and Namibia while the likes of Belgium, Russia, France, and Iran use partial online voting. 

While some countries have successfully integrated the system, others are still hesitant considering its security concerns. Below are some countries that have tried and failed. 

DRC: The country planned to use electronic machines in its 2018 elections, but Al Jazeera reported that there were fears it would be used to rig outcomes. It was also reported that 7000 out of 10,000 voting machines were destroyed by a fire caused by arsonists, just 10 days before voters went to the polls.

Norway: The country tested electronic votes between 2011 and 2013 but decided not to use them because of public perceptions of the security of the vote.

Paraguay: In the early 2000s, Paraguay experimented with voting machines which it loaned from Brazil but returned to paper voting in 2008.

Netherlands: In 2007, the country reverted to paper ballots, after anti e-voting activists showed that it is not secure, using experimental hacking.

Germany: In 2009 the country stopped using voting machines after a Constitutional Court ruled they were not transparent enough.

Notably, an example of e-voting concerns is Belgium’s 2003 federal elections where a candidate received 4,096 extra votes due to a system error. Investigators found that a bit flip caused the error as a single bit of memory was spontaneously flipped from 0 to 1.  

It was only detected because the glitch caused a mathematically impossible election result under Belgium’s system.