Processing of personal data during the voting process and electronic elections

The secrecy of voting is a fundamental principle of democratic elections, which guarantees a special category of voters' data – the political choice made in the voting booth. For purposes of electoral legislation, any breach of the confidentiality of a voter's political choice on election day constitutes a serious violation and is subject to criminal liability.

In addition to the aforementioned data, various personal data of voters are processed on election day at polling stations (name, surname, personal number, date of birth, photograph, registration address, gender, etc.). The district election commission is responsible for protecting your personal data. Therefore, if you believe that your personal data is being processed at the polling station without lawful grounds and purposes, you can immediately request appropriate action from the district election commission chairman. Additionally, you can appeal to the Personal Data Protection Service regarding violations of personal data.

Remember:

➢ No one, apart from authorized members of the election commission at the polling station, has the right to ask you to hand over your identification document/passport of a Georgian citizen, take a photograph of it, disclose or record the data reflected in it, etc. If such an incident occurs, you have the right to demand the cessation of the unlawful processing of your data;

➢ The election commission is entitled to process your identifying documentation only for specific legal purposes - to conduct the electoral procedures legally and to ensure your participation in the voting process. Accordingly, you, as a data subject, have the right to request an explanation regarding the legal grounds and purposes of data processing for each specific case if you have doubts;

➢ To ensure the protection of your special category data, the law prohibits taking photos or videos in the voting booth. This prohibition also applies to you as a data subject;

➢ Upon exiting the voting booth, no one has the right to request you to show the choice you made in the ballot or openly declare the political entity you voted for. Remember that such information represents your special category data, and its secrecy is guaranteed;

➢ In exceptional cases, when you are unable to fill out the ballot independently (for example, due to health conditions), you have the right to invite any person of your choosing to assist you in the voting booth. Remember, no commission member has the authority to direct you to invite another person into the voting booth to assist you against your will, as it is solely your right to decide who to entrust with the decision made in the voting booth. Remember, this information constitutes your special category data;

➢ After finishing the voting process, no one outside the polling station has the right to obligate you to participate in an election survey. Remember, participating in such a survey and disclosing personal data is your right, not a duty.

One of the most significant changes in the electoral process is its conduct in an electronic format using technology. In the modern world, the role of technology and electronic software solutions, which facilitate daily life, is increasingly growing. On the other hand, people develop a sense of insecurity due to distrust toward modern technologies. This sense of insecurity arose among some parts of society concerning the electronic electoral process. The question is whether the use of electronic technology in the electoral process ensures the confidentiality of a voter's voting process and the choice made and whether our personal data is protected.

According to the Georgian Law on Personal Data Protection, one of the critical obligations of the person responsible for processing and the person authorized for processing is to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to safeguard your data's confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility.

The 2024 parliamentary elections will indeed utilize electronic technology. These technologies have been acquired by the electoral administration from the company "Smartmatic." Smartmatic is an international company founded in Florida, United States, in 2000. Currently, it operates in over 30 countries, including the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Estonia, and others. Smartmatic specializes in electoral technology solutions designed to improve elections' efficiency, transparency, and integrity. The company's primary products include:

Voting Machines: Electronic voting machines equipped with a reader interface and vote-counting system.

Election Software: Simplifies the management of the electoral process, voter registration, vote counting, and reporting systems.

Post-Election Audit Technologies: Enable the verification of the vote-counting system.

Smartmatic implements various security procedures to ensure the integrity, transparency, and reliability of its voting systems. It employs an electoral cybersecurity framework developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology Research Institute (GTRI) in the United States. When most people think about election technology cybersecurity, they focus solely on voting software. However, this is only one, albeit significant, aspect of the election security ecosystem. Smartmatic utilizes technical security measures such as:

End-to-End Encryption - Applied at every stage of the electoral process, from registration to voting and storage. This measure ensures that any information sent between devices or networks remains confidential, with its integrity and availability protected.

Multi-layer Authentication - Smartmatic systems require multi-factor authentication (MFA) for users (commission members) to prevent unauthorized access. This involves using multiple forms of identification, such as passwords, biometric data, and smart cards.

Digital Signatures - Digital signatures are used to verify the authenticity of election-related data. Each electronic vote or ballot is digitally signed to confirm it originates from the correct source and has not been altered since submission.

Audit Trails - Smartmatic systems offer audit trails that log all actions performed during the electoral process. These logs are immutable, ensuring the detection of any attempts to tamper with the system or alter results back to their origin.

Source Code Review - They allow independent third parties to conduct code reviews, ensuring that the software running on voting machines is secure and cannot be used to compromise elections.

Anti-Tampering Systems - Smartmatic uses hardware designed for additional security. Physical seals, locks, and other mechanisms detect any unauthorized access attempts to machines and devices.

Cryptographic Hashing - Hashing algorithms ensure that any data, especially vote totals, remain intact from the moment of recording to counting. If a part of the data is changed, the hash will change, easily indicating unauthorized/illegal access.

Post-Election Audits - Post-election audits are conducted to verify electronic results against paper records or other forms of evidence.

These measures help ensure the security and transparency of Smartmatic's voting systems, safeguarding democratic processes.

All these factors give us reason to assume that Smartmatic adheres to technical and organizational security standards; they use software that ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data. As for the voting machine itself, where your ballot is placed, it is protected from unauthorized access and cannot link a specific ballot to a specific voter. It is also important to note that these machines are not connected to the internet, further reinforcing the belief in their security and protection.

According to Georgian legislation, your vote is secret! Your confidentiality must be protected and ensured!

It is important to know that in the upcoming elections, the final result will be determined by manual recounting and not by the results recorded by the electronic vote-counting machine!

The team at DPT Consulting wishes you a peaceful and successful election, whose results will ensure the protection and safety of you and your children in a secure environment!