After 13 processes carried out together with Local Public Education Services, the professional qualified the processes with EVoting as secure and participatory.
In November 2017, the new institutional framework for Public Education in Chile was created, and the administration of educational establishments, kindergartens, schools and high schools of 345 municipalities were transferred to 70 Local Public Education Services (SLEP). These new school organising bodies (sustainers) must operate on the basis of two basic principles: citizen participation and local and territorial development. Thus, each of the 70 Local Education Councils, which advise on the definition of educational projects, must be composed of members of the entire educational community and be elected through a democratic election. This means election processes with thousands of people, including students, parents, education professionals, assistants and management and pedagogical teams. In the case of SLEP Valparaíso, the electoral roll amounted to 32,000 people. “When it was necessary to make decisions on how the elections were to be held, it was unanimous to do it through electronic voting,” says Rodrigo Millán, from SLEP Valparaíso. “For two reasons -he continues-: first, for security reasons, we were not going to expose the communities to possible contagions by having to go to the establishment to vote. And, secondly, to ensure participation. The law establishes that councilors are elected in the first round when 30% or more of the electoral roll participates and, if this does not occur, a second round must be held. In our case, the requirement was met in four of the five classes’’.
What would you especially highlight about the platform?
The ease of use, very simple, allows people regardless of their digital ability to vote and that is highly remarkable. Second, the stability: in the two days of the first round and the day of the second round, it was 100% operational, without any crashes. Third, the speed to achieve the objective (…) the process is very well defined so that in three steps people have their vote cast and deposited in their electronic ballot box. And as for the service, the support they provide is spectacular. He points out that everyone was “fascinated, very satisfied. All expectations were met, the service was impeccably delivered and the support you provide is outstanding. I don’t know how many people were at the support desk, I don’t know if there were one, two, ten or a hundred, but typically when one interacts with the support desk there is a break in the service, in this case no, it was a service delivered without any fragmentation or breakage, and that is highly valuable”.
Do you think this electronic modality will be maintained or does it have to do with the contingency?
Look, we have a colleague who works in the SLEP of Atacama, they did not opt for remote voting, but for face-to-face voting. And the election has already been going on for about two weeks, with all the effort that this means. The Atacama Region is very extensive, from the mountain range to the coast, and they have to go to the schools, set up, wait for the people to arrive, spending ten hours each time, it does not make any sense, so I think that at least in the local services this is here to stay.