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How Much Does an e-Vote Cost? Cost Comparison per Vote in Multichannel Elections in Estonia

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Electronic Voting (E-Vote-ID 2018)

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Abstract

We are presenting the results of the CoDE project in this paper, where we investigate the costs per vote of different voting channels in Estonian Local Elections (2017). The elections analyzed involve different processes for casting a vote: Early Voting at County Centers, Advance Voting at County Centers, Advance Voting at Ordinary Voting District Committees, Electronic Voting, Election Day Voting, and Home Voting. Our analysis shows how the administrative costs per e-vote (an electronic vote) are half the price of the second cheapest option (Election Day Voting), representing the most cost-efficient way of organizing elections, given the conditions of this Case Study. Otherwise, different forms of convenience voting have much higher costs, giving us subjects for further discussion on how to organize multichannel elections.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In traditional TD ABC the time per item of output is estimated. However, as is the case with elections, we know precisely how much time is spent on every activity, we receive time per item of output in the manner described above.

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Acknowledgment

We extend sincere thanks to Breck Shuyler who was assisting us with modelling of BMPNs and on-site observation during the electoral process. This article is based upon work supported by the Estonian Research Council grant (PUT 1361 “Internet Voting as Additional Channel for Legally Binding Elections: Challenges to Voting Processes Re-engineering”, 2017–2020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia tee 3, 12618, Tallinn, Estonia

    Robert Krimmer, David Duenas-Cid & Iuliia Krivonosova

  2. State Electoral Office of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia

    Priit Vinkel & Arne Koitmae

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  1. Robert Krimmer
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  2. David Duenas-Cid
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  3. Iuliia Krivonosova
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Correspondence to David Duenas-Cid .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Robert Krimmer

  2. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Melanie Volkamer

  3. LORIA, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy Cedex, France

    Véronique Cortier

  4. Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Rajeev Goré

  5. University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Manik Hapsara

  6. Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan

    Uwe Serdült

  7. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    David Duenas-Cid

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Krimmer, R., Duenas-Cid, D., Krivonosova, I., Vinkel, P., Koitmae, A. (2018). How Much Does an e-Vote Cost? Cost Comparison per Vote in Multichannel Elections in Estonia. In: Krimmer, R., et al. Electronic Voting. E-Vote-ID 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11143. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00419-4_8

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