Special Voting Arrangements in Europe: Postal, Early and Mobile
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Special Voting Arrangements in Europe: Postal, Early and Mobile Voting Webinar series report, November 2020 Special Voting Arrangements in Europe: Postal, Early and Mobile Voting Webinar series report, November 2020 Anika Heinmaa and Nana Kalandadze © 2021 International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and the Association of European Election Officials International IDEA publications are independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA, its Board or its Council members. The maps presented in this publication do not imply on the part of the Institute any judgement on the legal status of any territory or the endorsement of such boundaries, nor does the placement or size of any country or territory reflect the political view of the Institute. The maps have been created for this publication in order to add clarity to the text. The electronic version of this publication is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence. You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the publication as well as to remix and adapt it, provided it is only for non-commercial purposes, that you appropriately attribute the publication, and that you distribute it under an identical licence. For more information visit the Creative Commons website: <http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/>. International IDEA Strömsborg SE–103 34 Stockholm Sweden Telephone: +46 8 698 37 00 Email: [email protected] Website: <https://www.idea.int> Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) Vas u. 6. 1/7/A H–1088 Budapest, Hungary Telephone/Fax: +36 1 786 8298 Email: [email protected]; website: <https://www.aceeeo.org> Design and layout: International IDEA Content editor: Raul Cordenillo Copy editor: Curtis Budden DOI: <https://doi.org/10.31752/idea.2021.3> Created with Booktype: <https://www.booktype.pro> International IDEA | Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 5 2. The pandemic’s impact on election schedules and voter turnout ...................................... 6 3. Special voting arrangements: general considerations ......................................................... 9 4. Postal voting ............................................................................................................................ 10 4.1. Practical experiences and lessons ......................................................................................... 12 4.2. Reflections from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) ................................................. 15 5. Early voting .............................................................................................................................. 17 5.1. Practical experiences and lessons ......................................................................................... 18 5.2. Reflections from the OSCE/ODIHR ................................................................................. 21 6. Mobile voting ........................................................................................................................... 23 6.1. Practical experiences and lessons ......................................................................................... 24 6.2. Reflections from the OSCE/ODIHR ................................................................................. 30 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 31 References ................................................................................................................................... 32 About the partners ...................................................................................................................... 33 Association of European Election Officials ................................................................................ 33 International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance ................................................. 33 1. Introduction 1. Introduction Special voting arrangements (SVAs) are designed to expand voting opportunities to individuals who are otherwise not able to vote and thus to facilitate the principle of universal suffrage. Additionally, tailored safeguards that protect the equality, secrecy and transparency of the vote and the integrity of the counting process are vital for successfully implementing these SVAs. Over the past few decades, countries across Europe and around the globe have been increasingly adopting SVAs—particularly postal, early and mobile forms of voting. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated their use throughout the year 2020. What are the SVAs that are most commonly used across Europe? How do various SVAs work to supplement the voting in polling stations on election day? What can we learn from past lessons to implement SVAs with integrity? How can SVAs be scaled up and applied to elections in a short time frame? What challenges do their application and adaptation in a limited time frame entail? To respond to these questions facing electoral management bodies (EMBs) and electoral assistance organizations, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) convened a series of online webinars on postal, early and mobile forms of voting. The webinars, which took place from 27 October to 17 November 2020, brought together representatives of EMBs and election experts from electoral assistance organizations. The webinars facilitated an exchange of views between experts in a small, closed discussion format to ensure open communication and allow for critical reflection. Around 50 representatives from EMBs and international electoral assistance organizations participated in each webinar. This report summarizes key insights and reflections from each of the three webinars. International IDEA | Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) 5 Special Voting Arrangements in Europe: Postal, Early and Mobile Voting 2. The pandemic’s impact on election schedules and voter turnout Recent elections held during the COVID-19 pandemic provide evidence of the important role played by SVAs in the safe conduct of elections—at times even facilitating higher voter turnout. At the onset of the pandemic, many EMBs postponed elections. Now, however, fewer EMBs are postponing elections (see Figure 1), as countries increasingly apply risk- mitigating strategies, including the use of SVAs to hold safe elections. As the evidence suggests, electoral schedules were significantly disrupted across Europe in the first half of the year, especially in countries where nationwide votes were scheduled to take place. Examples of nationwide polls that took place after a significant delay are parliamentary elections in North Macedonia, parliamentary elections in Serbia, the presidential election in Poland and the second round of municipal elections in France. Across Europe, 26 electoral processes were postponed, 10 of which were nationwide elections or regional elections in federal states. The others were local government elections or by-elections for a limited number of mandates or referendums. The data collected since the start of the pandemic suggests that countries generally opted to postpone elections planned for April and May, while fewer postponements were observed between June and October. The effect seen so far suggests that countries are learning and adjusting their electoral processes rather than opting for postponements. This dynamic may change, however, based on the intensity of subsequent waves of the virus around the globe. 6 International IDEA | Association of European Election Officials (ACEEEO) 2. The pandemic’s impact on election schedules and voter turnout Figure 1. The pandemic’s impact on the scheduling of elections Source: International IDEA. Based on ‘Global Overview of COVID-19 Impact on Elections’, 18 March 2020, <https://www.idea.int/news-media/multimedia-reports/global-overview-covid-19-impact-elections>, accessed 20 December 2020. A comparison of the turnout numbers for elections held in 2020 with earlier elections shows a decrease globally, albeit with some notable exceptions (see Figure 2). Particular factors affecting turnout in 2020 include the timing of elections and the stage of the pandemic, the social and political context, and available SVAs—particularly the availability of postal and early voting, with the number of postal votes doubling in several recent elections. Where available, SVAs have been more widely used compared with elections in the past. The South Korean elections held on 15 April 2020 give us a prime example of the possibility of holding elections during a pandemic. The voter turnout was 66 per cent, the highest recorded in the country since 1992, and 41 per cent of all votes were cast through SVAs. Elections in the United States also registered a record turnout, with over 99 million (out of nearly 160 million) voters casting their vote prior to election day; one-third of these cast their ballots through in-person early voting and the other two-thirds through postal voting. International IDEA | Association