Researchers and graduates from Universidad Tecnologica Nacional de Mendoza (UTN) and members of the InDiE Lab, together with Intelifaz (locally known as Ag2 Tecnosur), have developed the e-Fiscal so that, table authorities as well as electoral prosecutors from the political parties can enter the results of the vote as soon as the scrutiny of every ballot box is over.
The fiscal solution not only speeds up the scrutiny process but also it democratizes the provisional scrutiny allowing the parties a control of the votes, loaded in the system by the table authorities and representatives of the other parties. A process that today, can be revised only during the final scrutiny.
The next versions will include “smart contracts” in order to guarantee the transparency in the results.
The boosters of this project have chosen Matr, which was designed in Mendoza, for its simplicity and fast delivery. They managed to design the mobile app, axis of the e-Fiscal solutions, in record time.
Next Sunday, September 1st a pilot test will be carried out for the election of Mayor in Tunuyan, Mendoza.
What is eFiscal?
It is a tool designed to monitor in real time and collectively the digitalization of the scrutiny.
This software has been designed in order to aid the election commissions transmit the data quickly, safely and efficiently. It is Agile because it allows to load the votes immediately after the completion of the transmission form of the scrutiny; it is Transparent because the data loaded impacts immediately in the public page, and it is Democratic because it allows the parties, authorities, the media and even citizens to contrast the number of votes loaded in the database.
To sum up, it shows the election results in no time and the political parties as well as citizens will see them in an official page.
Why this tool?
Dr. Facundo Bromberg, professor and researcher at UTN Mendoza, as well as CEO of Fundacion InDiE Lab- Innovation Digital and Ethical for the Society- claims that the electoral system is based on a strong cross checking or control of the political parties during the final scrutiny.
Today, the general fiscals of all the parties hold the scrutiny minutes of each table and cross figures. In case they are not the same, they try to solve it and if they cannot, they could even open the ballot boxes again.
The provisional scrutiny is regulated by the Executive Power to calm down the citizens’ anxiety by revealing the results quickly, even though they show discrepancies with the final scrutiny. Digitalization and e-mail though quick, may cause inaccurate results risking the final results figures until the final scrutiny.
Dr Bromberg points out that this e-Fiscal system offers each political party a copy/replica of the scrutiny system that the junta uses, allowing not only the participation of the small political parties in the cross control enabling each one to do their own scrutiny, but also a common system for all the parties allowing the cross validation of the figures loaded, checking the data match or discrepancy as well as adding figures.
Why choose Mat|r for development?
The technology used for its development was Matr, due to its quickness, simplicity and fast delivery. In addition, it is a basis where others can design their own apps from the components developed. Democratization will be supported.
In the next stage this software platform, Matr, will continue in use forming part of Blockchain, which allows the development of safer electoral processes and has shown to be an easier way of verifying the results accuracy.
How does eFiscal work?
The table controllers, through the apps, send the votes for each party, plus the contested votes and the blank ones together with the pictures of the result transmission forms.
The results are clearly and accurately seen through a live platform web.
The process is quite simple:
During elections can;
A user ( fiscal or table authority) log in with a password
- Open/close tables (informing that votation centres are ready to receive voters)
- Inform about the missing voting ballots/ticket
- Search names by alphabetical order in the electoral roll
- Can inform about closing tables
- Send digital results with a print of the transmission result form
The software also sends statistics such as, open tables, number of voters. When the election is over, send the results. These data is shown in an official site and all citizens have access to the information in a clear, transparent way.
Piloto Test
Next Sunday, September 1st, 2019, in the election to Mayor and Councilors of the department of Tunuyán, Mendoza, will be the pilot test of this new app, where each electoral school authority will have at its disposal the eFiscal app to inform the opening and closing of the elections, as well as their results.
The pilot test will be carried out on a full scale, on all tables of all schools. The pilot test will not have cross-checking now because the political parties are not being involved this time. Only a part of the app will be tested this first time, and it will be managed by the Electoral Board of Mendoza. The school authorities will be the ones loading the results, since the training will not be done to the prosecutors yet.
This pilot test will be working in parallel to the preexisting mechanisms of provisional scrutiny, without altering them at all.
Members of the InDiE Lab team, Mat|r and Intelifaz, traveled on Tuesday, August 27th to Tunuyán to train the school authorities on how to load the scrutiny results though the app.
Those interested in using this tool can access the official website of the app and get in touch https://efiscal.matrproject.com