Three Countries Setting New Standards in Election Security

The year 2024 has introduced notable advances and shifts in election authentication technologies globally. Earlier in the year, we looked at the US state of Georgia’s move towards watermarked ballot papers and away from the use of QR codes to count ballots. This month, we describe how the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Namibia are planning to secure their upcoming elections.

Philippines: first fully automated election

The Philippines is preparing for its first fully automated national elections in 2025. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the National Printing Office (NPO) have signed an agreement with South Korean firm MIRU Systems to implement FASTrAC (Fully Automated System with Transparency Audit and Count). This system combines two common electronic voting and counting technologies – optical mark recognition (OMR) and direct recording electronic (DRE) system, replacing over 90,000 vote-counting machines used in previous elections.

Whereas OMR involves the voter using a pen to mark their choice on a machine-readable paper ballot, DRE systems use a keyboard, touchscreen, mouse, pen or other electronic device to allow a voter to record their vote electronically.