Curaçao is the biggest and most populated island of the Dutch Antilles. And on 20 April, 2007, its people used Smartmatic’s electronic voting solution, supported by a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT), to elect members to the Insular Council of Curacao.

159 SAES-3000 machines distributed across the island in 106 voting centers enabled over 74,000 people to exercise their right to vote.

We designed our technology platform to be auditable, fast and easy to use, not to mention completely reliable. It meant that the country joined the ranks of those offering its citizens what is probably the most advanced voting system in the world.

Lizane Richards-Dindial, Curaçao’s Governor, noted some important benefits of Smartmatic’s technology and services saying, “Because Smartmatic’s voting technology is secure, auditable and voter-verified, Curacao’s citizens were able to have the safest and reliable election possible, and we are pleased to report all participants have accepted the validity of the results.”

In this election, 74,342 voters choose from 278 candidates in 11 different parties to sit on 21 seats in the Insular Council.

Scope

Curaçao’s Supreme Electoral Council, together with the political parties and competitors in the electoral process, validated 74,342 registered votes in these elections. There were no null votes, thanks to the technology.

The project included:

• The entire technology platform, including 159 SAES-3000 voting machines distributed throughout 106 voting centers
• All the services needed to carry out the election
• 21 contingency machines in reserve
• Deploying one tallying center
• One data and results collection station, situated in the Electoral Council (Hoofdstembureau)
• Results collection

Our voting machines can transmit data to the tallying center in several ways, such as via fixed phone line, wireless and satellite. However in this case, the Electoral Council asked we set up a data collection center to receive the hard copies of the ballots.

Audited by all

We worked together with the Electoral Council’s authorized personnel to guarantee a successful and reliable process, from the test preceding the election to the audits following it, validated by all participants of the democratic process.

Quick voting. Fast results

The electors needed an average of less than 30 seconds to exercise their right to vote in an election where 278 candidates from 11 different parties were nominated for 21 seats in the Insular Council. After a first bulletin at 20:55 hours and certified result at 21:17 hours, the awarding process began.

High success rate

Of the voting machines used, 98.75% of them worked perfectly and collected the votes that all the parties involved in the electoral process accepted as definitive results. We always provide back-up machines in case of any technical difficulties, so voters were able to cast their ballot even in polling locations where equipment was not performing in top condition.

Audits

1. Nine days before election day, we held the first electoral simulation in the Electoral Council’s offices. Its purpose was to check all Smartmatic technology components and services to be deployed in the election. For this demonstration, we programmed two voting machines with data similar to that which would be used in the real election. Authorized personnel tested them by simulating the voting, tallying and post-count auditing processes.

2. Once the 159 voting machines were ready, the Electoral Council randomly selected five to undergo a full, end-to-end audit, following the same procedure which would take place on the day of the election. For this evaluation, official data were used in the equipment configuration, so that the auditors could examine the whole technological platform according to the same conditions that would apply on Election Day, 20 April, 2007.

The five machines were evaluated under three different conditions:

a. Maximum number of votes allowed per machine (according to official figures of citizens inscribed and allowed votes).

b. At least a vote for each available option, plus at least one blank vote for each machine. The Electoral Council validated that all of the available options matched the design of the electoral ballots.

c. Free vote: it was proven that different voting options, randomly made until they covered each and every possible option, were successfully made.

The registry of all the votes was validated and filed in preparation for the post-tally evaluation of the transmission and counting process. Additionally, tests were performed to check the replacement of removable memory, the replacement of machines in the event of a malfunction and the contingency plan in case of an electrical failure. All of these produced satisfactory results within the expected time.

Voting instructions

1) Read the question on the ballot
2) Press the button that matches your answer
3) Confirm your selection by pressing ‘Vote’
4) Check that the receipt matches what the machine registered and put it in the ballot box