The Plenary of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), considers the possibility of using voting and manual scrutiny; the digitization, scanning and transmission of the results from the electoral precincts, in the primaries of the matches to be held in October 2023.
During the presentation of the Electoral Calendar Administrative Activities and Legal Deadlines 2024, the National Director of Elections, Mario Núñez, explained that since last March the JCE Internally, he dealt with the issue of digitization of results action that was collected through resolution 34-2022 which covers scrutiny and digitization scanning and transmission of results.
“This would be an important scenario in the primaries to carry out a first exercise with this topic, but the JCE requires the consensus of the organizations that decide to use this methodology (internal primaries) to start working from now on”said Mario Nunez.
The national director of elections said that currently the Plenary of the JCE It is found in the analysis and discussion of the use of digitization units, scanning and transmission of results.
“As you know, we were waiting for the opinions of the political organizations, we have already received them and the JCE, its plenary session is working on making the final decision and so technically it is being discussed, finalizing the discussion of the scope of these teams in the electoral precincts because not only the decision to use the equipment is involved, but also other technical aspects related to the signal for the effect of effective transmission, so these aspects are being addressed right now in order to have a final decision on the digitization units. Nunez explained.
Given this, Núñez highlighted the need for the JCE to know what will be matches that will use the method of the primaries to be able to organize it in time.
“The celebration of the primaries has a very important element and that is that it is a partisan decision to submit to this methodology or not, because as we mentioned Law 33-18 establishes five ways to choose candidacies, five methods and the primaries is simply one from them”, Núñez said during the presentation.
Part of the information released about the calendar of activities for the 2024 elections is that it contemplates that 6% of these activities are aimed at organizing internal elections for the selection of candidates from the various organizations. supporters.
Last October the JCE issued the preliminary resolution which provides for the manual scrutiny procedure and the digitalization of the results from the electoral precincts.
The digitization of the results was accepted by the representatives of the matches politicians who considered that with this it will be possible to have a square of the most effective elections.
This is how the digitization of the results would work
After carrying out the manual count and exhausting all the rigorous requirements and having registered in the corresponding support template of each political party and reviewed them, the total number of voters who voted, the null votes, the observed votes and in a column the subtotals for each game.
Once the results of the support staff have been recorded, the president and the second member of the polling station go to the space allocated for the Digitization, Scanning and Transmission Team (EDET), accompanied by the titular delegates accredited to this polling station.
“The rest of the materials will remain in the custody of the secretary, first member and substitute secretary, together with the substitutes of the delegates accredited to the college,” the resolution establishes.
The data must be dictated to the digitization equipment operator, who in turn will digitize this data and after printing the voting list, it will be taken to the polling station for review before all those present and once they have verified the relationship It will be signed by the members of the college and the delegates who wish to do so, also placing the seal of the college.
After that process is complete, staff will need to go to the digitizing team to complete the process and scan and transmit results.
“After the corresponding voting relationship is signed and sealed, it will be scanned, a phase that enables the transmission of results. Only the results of the previously scanned, signed and arrived voting relations may be transmitted”, highlights what is established in the resolution of the JCE.
