Case Studies > Digital Democracy
DIGITAL DEMOCRACY
Online process to vote for accessible government elections.
During Italian new Government election day, the 33% of people entitled to vote, didn’t vote and, a percentage of them, couldn’t vote because of hard climate conditions and/or because of disability status of people.
The goal is to help people entitled to vote, living with eye, motor and neural diseases. Talk about the last one, obviously diseases which let them to vote in autonomy, without being help, because the vote is secret and personal, mustn’t have any kind of external influence.
Italian data analysis
63,8%36,2%Turnout
Abstained
430.000Invalid ballots added to abstained amount
Source: www.openpolis.it
Going to vote isn’t priceless, the cost is very high
400.000.000€Average price estimate value, paid by the State during politics elections.
Average price estimate value of management and staff for polling stations on the whole national territory.
223.000.000€6.135,00€Average price estimate value of management and staff for A SINGLE polling station.
10.000,00€Travel facilities
Source: www.money.it
People with disabilities in Italy
How many of them live in Italy?
In Italy, in 2019, people with disabilities - or those who suffer from health problems, serious limitations that prevent them from carrying out their usual activities - were 3 million and 150 thousand (5.2% of the population).
Age and gender??
The elderly are the most affected: almost 1.5 million people over 75 (22% of the population in that age group) are in a condition of disability and 1 million of them are women.
Which kinds of functional limitations?
In the population aged 15 and over
- 2% have severe vision limitations;
- 4.1% have hearing limitations;
- 7.2% have motor limitations.
What about their mobility?
The ability to move freely is very limited among people with disabilities. The data on mobility, relating to 2019, show that only 14.4% of people with disabilities move with urban public transport, against 25.5% of the rest of the population. These differences vary greatly with age. Among individuals aged between 15 and 44, 26.3% of those with limitations and 29.6% of those who do not use urban transport; if we consider the over seventy-five year olds, the corresponding percentages are 7.2% and 24.6%. In the case of the use of the train, the differences are even more marked.
Source: www.disabili.com
Let’s see a real example of a common city in Italy
Below some pictures took in my city, Piazza Armerina, in province of Enna in Sicily.
A nice view, but…
The pictures show the travel to do from my house to a school used as a polling. It’s very difficult to travel this road, especially for those who suffer of motor and blindness disabilities. The sidewalks are tights and you necessary must go on the road traveled by the cars to avoid to collide against trees or stumble on disruptions.
User Interview
Francesco suffer of motor disability. His patology is called “spina bifida” and he owns it since birth. He was born during an age while medicians were experimenting cures and he is lucky because doesn’t needs to live on a wheelchair.
Andrea: I would like to know which was the last time you went to vote?
Francesco: 10 years ago I suppose.
Andrea: Which kind of elections?
Francesco: The presidential elections. I don’t care about the other elections, like the regional or the local ones and the idea to go many times put me on a difficult situation.
Andrea: Where is your nearest polling station?
Francesco: Saint George School
Personal note: the polling station is located at 500 meters from his house.
Andrea: Please, talk me about how was your first experience?
Francesco: I went there with my mom by car, going by my self was difficult because of roads conditions and my sickness too. Sidewalks don’t encourage the walk. The school entrance was accessible only by stairs, at that time there wasn’t the ramp usefuls for people in a wheelchair. Was so difficult because I climbed several stairs, the room available to vote was only at the first floor. I remember was realy bad organized, for example they haven’t the pen to be used in the polling cabin.
Andrea: And after the vote, how did you feel at the end?
Francesco: I decided to don’t go to vote anymore.
Andrea Why?
Francesco: Tiring and the place was difficult to reach despite my mother's accompaniment. I wanna feel autonomous while doing my stuff.
Andrea: What is your relationship with the digital and web?
Francesco: I use digital services and products every day. I’m feeling a digital native despite my age.
Personal note: the interview was take in 2023. Francesco was 36 years old, so his first experience was when he has 25/26.
Andrea: Do you use governative websites to consult informations about public services?
Francesco: No, till now I didn’t need them. I also haven’t SPID.
Personal note: SPID staying for “Sistema Pubblico di Identità Digitale” and allow you to access and use national, regional and local public services, made available by the government.
Andrea: Do you know people with your same difficulties which had similar problems here in the city?
Francesco: No.
Andrea: Imagine a Scenario. “You find out with a month in advance that there will be the elections”, no matter which kind of right now. Please tell me what you will do in order to acquire informations?
Personal note: The question was made with the consciousness that what a user think to do, is not what will really do, or never do. Was useful for me to have an idea of his actions in this kind of situations, with the goal to obtain keywords.
Francesco: I will search info on Internet to know which are the days and also where and how. I will not go on a specific site, but I will use Google for example, a simple research.
Andrea: When elections are coming, online/offline media spread informations useful to understand how to vote. What do you think about their clarity?
Francesco: Not so clear, I easy forget guidelines and I follow indications with not enough attention because I imagine will be also available inside the polling station in the same way. I remember when I was in the polling station weren’t available and I feel I was wrong after assign the vote.
Andrea: Immagine another Scenario. “Today is the election day”. What you will do?
Francesco: I will try to understand if I can vote online, from my house, without going physically with my legs. I will search on Google “how to vote online”. But as an Italian citizen I know it’s not possible, so I never tried..
Andrea: Now we change the argument, remaining in the goal to express your vote.Have you evere vote for a Referendum? Any kind of, of course.
Francesco: No. Because I haven’t enough informations, I’m not a person who search frequently about these kind of activities.
Andrea: What about the idea to vote online for both Referendum and elections?
Francesco: Great, if I had more certainty and clarity on how to do it, I would.
Andrea: What do you think of a digital service that allows people to cast a vote, for any context? Elections, referendums…?
Francesco: A blessing. Now we can do everything online, not being able to do it is an abomination. Must be a way to prevent fake vote and lack of security of course. I’m meaning identity theft or similar, like phishing, smishing, vishing…
Andrea: Do you perceive a good security about online vote?
Francesco: I think Italy is not so well organized on web security, I have some doubts about it. In the same way I’m sure and I know that exist a way to guarantee security. I’ll welcome a long and also not so fast process of authentication to be sure my vote and personal data will are correct and safe respectively. Bots in example, with a lot of steps have hard ways to send fake votes. So again, different steps are welcomed.
Andrea: What to you think about spreading data relative to how many people vote online?
Francesco: I don’t care, also because could be useful to confirm how online vote is useful and inclusive.
Andrea: Would you prefer a mobile or desktop experience?
Francesco: I don’t care.
Andrea: If you have to choose one?
Francesco: Mobile!
Andrea: We reach the end, how do you judge the urbanization and mobility of the city where you live?
Francesco: Bad, it’s not a “disable friendly” city. I’m thinking about people in a wheelchair, they have no way to do anything without someone and in my situation, be more autonomouos it would make me feel better.
How does voting for expatriates work (2022)?
Italian voters who are temporarily abroad for work, study, or medical reasons for a period of at least 3 months that includes the date of the upcoming political elections on September 25 can vote by mail in the Overseas constituency, provided they opt for this mode of exercising their voting rights by August 24, according to Article 4-bis, paragraphs 1, 2, 5, and 6 of Law No. 459/2001 (Rules for the exercise of voting rights of Italian citizens residing abroad).
To exercise this option, the voter temporarily abroad must send to the municipality of registration a declaration of option containing all the information required by law, including the foreign postal address to which the electoral package should be sent. This declaration must reach the municipality by the 32nd day before the election date, that is, by August 24, and must be accompanied by a photocopy of a valid ID.
To facilitate completion, an editable PDF form provided by the Electoral Services is available online on this site.
The declaration of option can be submitted by the deadline via mail, fax, email (including non-certified), or delivered in person, even through third parties.
Not so clear…
Let’s summarize the main problems:
Voting at a physical location for those with permanent and/or temporary disabilities is problematic. It does not allow them to be autonomous and requires assistance. Additionally, not all voting booths are equipped for people with disabilities, with minimal privacy guaranteed.
Voting at a physical location if weather conditions are unfavorable also prevents even those without disabilities from being able to vote.
Italian citizens residing abroad must complete a PDF form in which they express their intention to vote. They have a deadline to submit this form and then must wait for the arrival of the ballot to be able to vote. No confirmation is provided regarding the receipt of the ballot with the expressed vote. The risk of it being lost is high.
Now, let's take look at the environmental impact in terms of CO2 emissions
To assist with my work, I used data provided by Chat-GPT, as I am not a great expert on the environmental impact related to the production processes of a single sheet of paper. I am including here the questions asked and the answers obtained. The formulas used by Chat-GPT have been omitted for easier reading.
Having conducted multiple tests, I obtained different but very similar data. These should be considered as indicative data useful for understanding the concept and highlighting the differences in consumption related to CO2 emissions.
“How many trees are necessary to produce 1 kg of A4 paper?”
The amount of paper produced from a tree can vary depending on the type of tree and its size. On average, it takes about 24 trees to produce 1 ton of paper.
Given that A4 paper is part of this production, the number of trees needed for 1 kg of A4 paper is roughly 0,024 trees.
This is a very rough estimate, as actual numbers can vary based on factors like the efficiency of the paper production process and the type of paper being produced.
“So the amount of trees to produce the paper necessary to build italian electoral sheet? Imagine to produce 60.000.000 of A4 form at paper?”
To estimate the number of trees needed to produce 60.000.000 A4 sheets of paper, we can follow these steps:
1. Determine the weight of 60.000.000 A4 sheets of paper.
- A standard ream of A4 paper (500 sheets) weighs approximately 2,5 kg;
- Therefore, 60.000.000 sheets are equivalent to 300 tons.
2. Calculate the number of trees needed.
- From the earlier approximation, about 24 trees are needed to produce 1 ton of paper;
- Therefore, for 300 tons of paper, the number of trees needed is 7.200.
So, producing 60.000.000 A4 sheets of paper would require approximately 7.200 trees.
“Now I’m interested on data in relationship with the sustainability and pollution from cars. Assume that in two days, almost 10.000.000 of people will drive by car for 1km on a round trip. How much will be CO2 emissions by gasoline and diesel cars? Think about half of these people use gasoline and the other half diesel.”
To quantify the CO2 emissions from gasoline and diesel cars given the scenario.
1. Assume the type of car and average fuel consumption.
Let's consider the average fuel consumption for light vehicles:
- Gasoline: 0,075 liters per km;
- Diesel: 0,065 liters per km.
2. CO2 emissions per liter of fuel.
- Gasoline: 1 liter of gasoline generates about 2,31 kg of CO2;
-Diesel: 1 liter of diesel generates about 2,68 kg of CO2.
3. Fuel distribution among users. Let's assume a hypothetical distribution of users:
- 50% of users drive gasoline cars;
- 50% of users drive diesel cars.
4. Calculation of emissions for a 2 km trip (round trip).
For each person, the total trip is 2 km. Now, let's calculate the fuel consumption and emissions for each type of fuel.
- Gasoline cars:
- Consumption for 2 km: 0,15 L;
- CO2 emissions per person: 0.3465 kg of CO2;
- Total emissions for 5.000.000 people: 2.079.000 kg of CO2.
- Diesel cars:
- Consumption for 2 km: 0,13 L;
- CO2 emissions per person: 0,3484 kg of CO2;
- Total emissions for 5.000.000 people: 1.742.000 kg of CO2.
Overall emissions:
Let's sum up the CO2 emissions for both types of fuel:
- Total emissions: 3.821.000 kg of CO2.
5. Final result: If 10.000.000 people traveled 2 km (round trip) by car in two days, the total emissions would be approximately 3.821 tons of CO2.
This is just an indicative example, and the figures may vary based on several factors, such as the actual fuel consumption of the cars, traffic conditions, and engine efficiency.
“If these people, instead of using their cars to go to a polling station, will express their vote using an online governative platform with three authentication factors (Identity document, face recognition/finger recognition and the usage of a secondary application like “Poste ID”) how much will be the CO2 emissions? At the end of calculation give me the difference.”
To estimate the CO2 emissions associated with voting online compared to driving, we need to consider the energy consumption of online voting platforms and their associated CO2 emissions. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown:
1. Emissions from online voting.
The main sources of CO2 emissions for online voting include:
- The use of personal devices (smartphones, computers);
- Processing on servers and data centers;
- Network connections.
2. Estimation of energy consumption for online voting.
For simplicity, let's assume that:
- The voting process takes a total of 10 minutes, including multi-factor authentication and vote transmission;
- The average energy consumption of a device (smartphone or computer) during this time is about 0,02 kWh;
- The average energy consumption of a server to process the vote is about 0,0005 kWh per vote (including all authentication factors and data management);
- We add a 30% margin to include network infrastructure and data center operations.
3. CO2 emissions per kWh. The average emission factor of electricity varies by country. In Europe, the average is about 0,233 kg of CO2 per kWh (based on the current energy mix, which includes a portion of renewable energy).
4. Calculation of emissions per vote.
- Energy consumption per user:
- Device: 0,00333 kWh per user;
- Server: 0,0005 kWh per vote;
- Network infrastructure: 0,005 kWh per vote.
- Emissions per vote: 0,001165 kg of CO2.
5. Total emissions for 10 million people.
If 10 million people voted online: 11,65 tons of CO2.
Comparison between the two options:
- Emissions for voting by car: 3.821 tons of CO2;
- Emissions for online voting: 11,65 tons of CO2.
Difference:
The difference between the emissions of the two methods is: 3.809,35 tons of CO2.
Final result.
Shifting voting from using cars to online voting with a secure platform would avoid approximately 3.809,35 tons of CO2. The emissions from online voting are extremely low compared to those generated by physical travel by car.
What do 3.809,35 tons of CO2 correspond to?
Cars: it’s like the equivalent to the annual emissions of about 760 cars. Each car emits approximately 5 tons of CO2 per year.
Electricity: are equal to the energy consumed in a year by about 500 average homes in the United States. Each home produces around 7,5 tons of CO2 per year through electricity usage.
Air Travel: it’s like taking about 1.900 round-trip flights from New York to London for a single passenger. A transatlantic flight emits roughly 2 tons of CO2 per passenger.
Trees: to absorb 3.809,35 tons of CO2 you would need about 63.000 mature trees. A tree absorbs approximately 60 kg of CO2 per year.
Cement: it’s the equivalent of producing 380.000 bags of cement. Each 50 kg bag produces about 10 kg of CO2.
Washing Machines: it’s like using a it for about 19 million washing cycles. Each washing cycle emits an average of 0,2 kg of CO2, considering energy consumption.
Smartphones: it’s like producing about 190.000 smartphones. The production of each smartphone generates an average of 20 kg of CO2, considering material extraction, manufacturing, and transportation.
Waste: is comparable to the emissions generated by 6.500 tons of waste sent to landfills. every ton of waste generates about 0,58 tons of CO2 equivalent.
Public Transport: are similar to those generated by operating a medium-sized subway system for one month.
Eating Beef: it’s equal to the environmental impact of producing 1.900 tons of beef. Each ton of beef produces about 2 tons of CO2 equivalent throughout its production chain.
What are the opportunities related to an online voting process?
More people would have the opportunity to vote autonomously.
The environmental impact related to CO2 emissions would decrease drastically.
The number of trees required to produce electoral ballots would be significantly reduced. It is, of course, inconceivable that physical polling stations will not be necessary for those who are not familiar with using a website, such as elderly individuals. Therefore, it could be very useful to anticipate this issue by allowing users to decide how they will cast their vote and better estimate the amount of paper needed for physical polling stations.
The time factor associated with travel, waiting in line, etc., should not be underestimated.
Let's analyze a possible flow starting from a scenario related to adverse weather conditions.
How could the process work considering control dynamics?
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