Elisa Araya Cortez, Rector oF the UMCE, highlighted the importance of electronic voting for Direct Democracy and the increase in voter participation.
On June 2nd, 2021, Elisa Araya Cortez was elected as the first woman rector of the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, which was considered a historic milestone for the campus. For EVoting, it was an honor that this process, which had a 95% participation rate, was conducted on its platform. It was also historic, because it was its first online election of a Rector. In conversation with EVoting, Rector Araya, a Physical Education teacher and Doctor in Education Sciences, highlighted the technology used, as well as the transparency and importance of digital advances.
How do you evaluate the electronic voting process?
It was very interesting for us. Electronic voting is not only an advantage to increase participation. It would be great for it to move forward in our country’s direct democracy, not only in the universities. It was an important election for us, a change of management after 12 years with the same Rector; and it was the first time that women were candidates in these elections. It was very good, with a lot of participation, which legitimizes the platform and the process as a whole.
What struck you most about this modality?
The security levels were adequate and, in spite of all that, they were not complex and they did not generate confusion. It was very well explained, the way in which the step-by-step instructions were communicated was very clear to me. Finally, when the votes were being opened, we asked ourselves: “how are you going to make it exciting?”. It is not just a matter of saying what your vote is, you have to give it some excitement. And well, the keys, which I imagine are effectively an electronic security question that allows you to verify that the voters are who they say they are through a code; that was a very attractive way of presenting it.
What advantages and disadvantages do you see in this modality with respect to the traditional one?
I find it difficult to see any disadvantages, I can only think of its advantages. It really broadens participation, because many times we say, “I don’t have to go to the University. Today is the election, well, my vote is not so important” and we subtract ourselves from it. Now, you can just open the computer and participate, and that is very important in these times; people can express their opinion. So it opens the possibility, at least in the University environment, where everyone is connected, to an even wider participation.
Do you think this is a change that has to do with the health contingency or is it a modality that is here to stay?
I hope it is a change that is here to stay. I really believe that we are not going backwards on this. As I mentioned, this is not only for elections that take place in a university context, but to really move towards digital democracy, in the participation of elections and consultations. I hope that the logic of binding plebiscites for important issues can be used, and I believe that it is very important to streamline these digital processes and make them massive and broadly participatory.
The digital will lead us to Direct Democracy. The fact that I can speak directly to my candidate, the mayor or you, voting for my interests or me putting issues that I want to be addressed. I think that that’s where telematic voting is going.
Check out the video interview by clicking on EVoting’s Youtube Channel.