Are EVM’s accurate?

Doubts have been raised about the reliability of Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs by many, especially after the Uttar Pradesh elections.

The Bahujan Samaj party chief Mayawati alleged that the election had been rigged by hacking into the electronic voting machines used, in the favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi party chief also agreed that such a major accusation needs to be looked into.

Kejriwal for paper ballots in Delhi municipal elections

The theme has been reiterated by the Aam Aadmi party chief and Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who has requested for paper ballots in Delhi municipal elections.

EVMs no longer used in Europe and USA

Majority of European countries and 45 out of 50 states of USA have switched to paper ballots as computer experts showed how vulnerable these machines were to hacking. Netherlands which was a pioneer in EVMs soon saw their vulnerability and has banned their use.

In Germany, court struck down the use of electronic voting machines, arguing that the process was not transparent enough at present and a copy of votes need be recorded in a way besides electronic storage.

What is the solution?

A paper ballot or trail accompanying the electronic voting process, which confirms that the votes have been cast correctly, is a solution used by many states in the USA. This also allows a post-election audit, where electronically counted votes can be tallied against paper records.

We hope this system comes in place by 2019 elections as even the Supreme Court has stressed the need for a Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail.