*Update 23.07.2024 HR says its not feasible [1] to have e-voting at Geel and Karlsruhe, once more money is cited as a factor, are we surprised?*
Original article: Digitalisation is everywhere: we pay electronically, we get our news and movies digitally and we even meet online. While some types of human interaction would, ideally, never be replaced, many routine administrative activities can certainly benefit from going digital. Nevertheless, it’s important to include those who will use new systems and procedures in the decision-making process: while we might save on queuing with e-Voting, are we maybe missing out somewhere else?
Here are the up-to-date figures (12.12.2023), we will rework the diagrams below with this information.
| officials + CA +TA | |
| BRUSSELS | 21776 |
| GEEL | 229 |
| FRANCE | 43 |
| ISPRA | 1607 |
| KARLSRUHE | 208 |
| LUXEMBOURG | 3629 |
| PETTEN | 182 |
| SEVILLA | 348 |
| OUT OF EU | 1654 |
Online voting is already the norm for 97% (30159 of 30880) of Commission colleagues across 4 local staff committees (LSCs) covering the most populous Commission sites (JRC-Ispra/Sevilla[*], Brussels, Luxembourg and outside the Union[*]). It is also the means used in the European External Action Service (EEAS) staff committee [2].
[3]
Generation 2004 wanted to know whether online voting would be the right choice for the Joint Research Centre (JRC) sites that still vote on paper (Geel, Karslruhe and Petten).
[4]
We launched a survey among the 668 Geel, Karslruhe and Petten colleagues to collect their opinions. We wanted to know whether the human interaction was particularly valued on these 3 JRC sites or whether having to vote on paper (either by being physically present or by posting the papers) would be an obstacle to participation. Some 22% of Geel, Karslruhe and Petten colleagues were motivated enough to respond to our survey and the detailed results can be found in this document [5]. We followed up with a discussion with the colleagues of these 3 sites in an event on 27.11.
The feedback we received clearly shows that a overwhelming majority of those who responded prefer e-voting (91.1%) and would like to have this option available already for the next LSC elections (86.3%)[**] – and this despite the fact that the majority of participants said they had never taken part in an electronic election before!
Although some respondents expressed concerns about the respect of privacy, the strong desire for greater environmental friendliness (77.4%), increased efficiency (71.23%) and more digitalisation (67.81%) seem to be decisive factors giving an overall positive response to the implementation of an electronic voting method.
Do your views align with the views expressed by the respondents to the survey? As usual, we’d like to hear from you [6].
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004 [7].
——————————-
[*] Technically not a site, we hear you, nor can its ‘local’ staff committee really be considered at all ‘local’, when staff are in different countries. Nevertheless, you get the idea.
[**] LSCs normally have a 3-year cycle. As per published results below there will be elections in 2024 in Geel (July?) and Karslruhe (October?).
Sources used for pie charts: last published LSC electoral results showing eligible voters. We are aware that these figures are probably out of date but we can find no published alternative showing site populations. If you can direct us to such resources, please get in touch, we’d appreciate your input!
Petten 2023 [8]
Luxembourg 2022 [9]
Brussels 2022 [10]
Ispra/Seville 2021 [12]
Karlsruhe 2021 [13] (note that the figure here has changed substantially: it is 205 as of 15.11.2023)
Geel 2021 [14]
France 2018 [15]
Older updates
Update 12.12.2023, DG HR has provided updated figures for all sites (officials, TAs and CAs). We have added them below.