The Nationalist Party has held back from publicly opposing plans to grant political parties uncontrolled access to ballot sheet scans, despite its representatives on the Electoral Commission voting against them.

According to proposals by the Electoral Commission, political parties will be given access to scans of all valid votes cast, along with their interpretation by the e-counting software set to be introduced during the May MEP elections.

The data can be held by the parties “for verification purposes” for a three-month period, after which it has to be deleted.

Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami raised concerns about the proposals in Parliament last month, saying it would make it possible for parties to search for a particular voting pattern agreed upon in advance with a voter from a specific address, given that ballot boxes are assigned to particular streets.

A veteran election observer told the Times of Malta last month that what was being proposed meant shifting from a system where votes were held under lock and key by the Electoral Commission to giving political parties unmonitored access to the scans.

Asked whether the PN would be backing in Parliament proposed amendments to the electoral law, giving them access to the ballot sheet data, a spokesman said the party was still not happy with the results attained during the mock tests to evaluate the new e-counting system.

“A system without proper checks and balances could lead to voter fraud. In this regard, the PN is still discussing possible changes to the proposed system to ensure that each and every voter’s voting intention is truly reflected in the final result,” the spokesman said.

Sources close to the Electoral Commission said delegates from both the Nationalist and Labour parties favoured the system.

Two PN party insiders told this newspaper, on condition of anonymity, the party preferred to be given equal access to the ballot scans as per the proposed amendments. The sources said that were the amendments not to be approved, they feared Labour would still manage to get its hands on the ballot sheet data.

“It might not be the most principled approach but we have to be pragmatic about these things. It’s better to have the same access to data that the Labour Party has, rather than nothing at all,” one party insider commented.

Questions sent to the Electoral Commission over a month ago asking why political parties would be given access to such sensitive information remain unanswered.

When a reminder was sent to Chief Electoral Commissioner Joseph Church several weeks ago, the reply, sent by mistake, was: “He is still persisting. Let’s put it before the commission again, please.”

Mr Church later clarified the e-mail was meant to be addressed to the commission secretary, requesting him to bring up the questions for discussion.

Five weeks later, no replies have been forthcoming.

The Labour Party, too, failed to answer when asked for its stand on the proposed amendments regarding access to ballot sheet data.

Questions to the Electoral Commission

If the commission “affirms its satisfaction that the electronic vote counting system guarantees the correct result reflecting the electorate’s vote”, why has it agreed to give political parties the right to access all people’s voting documents for three whole months? What does it think will be achieved by granting such access?

What safeguards will be put in place to ensure that this data is handled correctly and eventually erased?

Does the commission not feel that giving political parties access to every single vote cast violates constitutional provisions ensuring voter secrecy?

jacob.borg@timesofmalta.com

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