Argentina processed election results with record-breaking speed during its general elections thanks to the new system implemented in partnership with technology company Smartmatic. The vote was held on October 27, 2019.
Only three hours after voting ended, 70.48% of the tallying reports (called “telegrams” in Argentina) had been digitized, securely transmitted and uploaded into the system. By midnight, 96.08% of telegrams were processed.
A tailored technology for Argentina
In Argentina, we deployed three modules of our Election Management Platform (EMP). The combined work of this custom-made solution allowed authorities to publish nearly 70% of results only three hours after polls closed.
SmartTally Desktop
This module, designed specifically to assist in manual election processes, allowed Argentine officials to easily digitize the count reports (“telegrams”) and transmit them securely from more than 10,000 voting centers to the central results processing center.
SmarTally Web
Some 1,700 workers in charge of digitizing telegrams used this module to consolidate more than 100,000 tally documents for fast, accurate results.
Election Night Reporting
This module securely enabled authorities to consolidate and publish timely results. Candidates, voters and political parties were able to review results online from any device.
Services
Smartmatic provided a wide range of services, from training personnel to technical support, to guarantee the complete success of the election. Services included:
- Logistics and equipment for data processing centers (Argentine Post Offices).
- Architecture and equipment for the press room and international guests’ room.
- Provision and training of operational personnel for processing centers.
- Equipment and logistics for officials’ offices nationwide, where transmitted
- and processed tally reports could be queried in real time.
- Assistance and support to party officials.
- Nationwide deployment of technicians.
Fast, safe, and transparent tally
Transparency
The solution provided by Smartmatic used several mechanisms to facilitate auditability and protect the integrity of the vote. Both political parties and authorities were able to monitor the entire process, from the digitization of telegrams to the transmission and subsequent publication of results. The comparison of the closing tally reports made by the polling center authorities versus the tally reports published in the system allowed real-time audits.
Security
To ensure the confidentiality, integrity, access control and auditability of the electoral solution, Smartmatic implemented a series of controls based on the highest international security standards. This included best practices from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA, USA).
Speed
With Smartmatic election technology, Argentina announced election results in a scant few hours after the close of voting, a remarkable achievement compared to its previous electoral process.
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