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Local Elections 2021

Local Elections 2021 Local elections are scheduled for this Sunday, and the state will spend over 100 million kunas on them. 2,000 trees will be cut down just to ensure ballot papers, and 65,000 people will work during the elections. The question arises - can these costs be reduced? Is it time for digitalization and the introduction of e-voting in Croatia? There is interest, so what's the holdup? Read on to find out.

Local Elections 2021 Local elections are scheduled for this Sunday, and the state will spend over 100 million kunas on them. 2,000 trees will be cut down just to ensure ballot papers, and 65,000 people will work during the elections. The question arises - can these costs be reduced? Is it time for digitalization and the introduction of e-voting in Croatia? There is interest, so what's the holdup? Read on to find out.

Local elections are the name for various types of elections held every 4 years on the third Sunday in May. They are announced by the government of the Republic of Croatia and are conducted in municipalities, cities, counties, and the city of Zagreb. The Local Elections for 2021 are scheduled for May 16, 2021. On the same day, at the same time, at the same polling stations, at least 1,152 different elections will take place, including elections for members of representative bodies, executive representatives, and deputies of municipal mayors, city mayors, and county prefects from national minority communities.

Elections will be held in 20 counties, the city of Zagreb, 127 cities, and 428 municipalities.

The costs of local elections are estimated to be over 100 million kunas.

More than 14 million ballot papers will be delivered throughout the country, amounting to 135 tons of paper.

To produce 1 ton of paper, approximately 17 trees are needed, so with 135 tons of paper, over 2,000 trees will be sacrificed just for the local elections.

The cost of ballot papers will amount to 4.5 million kunas.

Each ballot paper has a serial number and security features, and in addition to the ballots, minutes, transcripts of minutes, boxes, and screens for polling stations will also be procured.

There will be 6,572 polling stations open for these elections, meaning 6,500 election committees with 10 members each. In total, there will be 65,000 people employed in local elections only in election committees. Some of the duties of an election committee include opening the ballot box and counting the ballot papers.

The complexity of these elections is significant, from various types of elections held on the same day to the large number of counties, cities, and municipalities where elections must be conducted.

The question arises: can the costs of elections be reduced? Is the state considering the introduction of electronic voting?

There are increasing rumors about e-voting. Is it time for digitalization? Several political parties have conducted their intra-party elections electronically, indicating a desire for such voting. So, what's the holdup when it comes to local and national levels? Although e-voting has not yet taken off in Croatia in concrete elections, there is still interest, and considering the time and cost savings that e-voting can offer, it's time to seriously consider the possibilities.

The pandemic, along with the Zagreb and Petrinja earthquakes, has increased awareness of digitalization, and ahead of local elections, the question of electronic voting and the natural progression towards digitalization has once again arisen.

IDE3 Ltd. has introduced the first version of an e-voting system in Croatia called FairVotes. The FairVotes electoral or voting process reduces costs by 2-10 times, and it has been used by a large number of clients.

The FairVotes application has several built-in mechanisms to protect data and prevent changes in the voting outcome. Security has been the primary principle of the system from the very beginning, and it is continually enhanced to increase the level of security and protection of received votes, organizers, and the entire process.

The FairVotes application allows double authorization for each voter, simpler preparation and creation of ballot papers, more transparent voting, and immediate access to reports when the process is completed.

With FairVotes, voting can be organized for everyone who can do it from home, as well as in-person at polling stations with a laptop or tablet.

The high number of inquiries and calls before and during the previous parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as these local elections, shows the interest of citizens who call and ask if and how they can vote via the application.

The world is becoming increasingly digital, and electronic voting is the future of voting. Who knows, maybe next time we will be able to conduct presidential, mayoral, or parliamentary elections electronically, just like the Estonians.

 

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