Electronic Technologies in Elections and Referendums: Theory and Practice

The article is devoted to the study of the theory and practice of using electronic technologies in elections and referendums in the context of guaranteeing the established international principles of electoral law. The relevance of the topic is related to the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On the All-Ukrainian Referendum", which allows the use of information and telecommunication technologies during its organization and conduct. The subject of the study is the theory and practice of using electronic technologies in elections and referendums in Ukraine and abroad. The purpose of the article is to analyze the use of electronic technologies in the process of administration, preparation and conduct of elections, which can be similarly used in the all-Ukrainian referendum in the context of ensuring the principles of electoral law, and also to clarify the technical side of their implementation. The study applies the method of analysis and synthesis of scientific information, comparative legal and dialectical methods of scientific cognition. The norms of domestic legislation on holding elections and the all-Ukrainian referendum on the use of electronic technologies have been studied. International standards of the implementation of e-voting technology, as well as the main recommendations of the Venice Commission and the Committee of Ministers on preventing violations of the principle of fair and free elections during the use of information technologies, were analyzed. Special attention was paid to the study of legal opinions of courts of foreign countries regarding problematic aspects and possible violation of voting principles when using e-voting technology (USA, Germany, India, Albania). It was concluded that the international community does not distinguish between using of electronic voting programs in elections and referendums, applying the same approaches to the implementation of electoral principles. Recommendations for domestic legislative activity and the practice of election administration are outlined. The possible use of such leading information and telecommunication technologies as biometric identification, online registration of political parties and candidates, electronic voting, optical scanning of paper ballots, recording of a paper trail, cryptography, etc. has been revealed. The analysis of judicial practice made it possible to conclude that in order to comply with the public nature of the election process it is important to guarantee cybersecurity, protection of personal data and the results of will detection by recording a paper trail. Finally, attention was drawn to the problem of legislative regulation of electronic procedures during the all-Ukrainian referendum without their consistency and harmonization with the provisions of the Election Code of Ukraine. The obsolescence of the procedure for initiating a national referendum enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine and detailed in the law, which needs to be modernized, is emphasized.