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Result Slip Scanning Project
Electoral Commission of South Africa
South Africa

The Problem

The electoral commission (IEC) is a permanent body created by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa to promote and safeguard representative democracy in South Africa. Although publicly funded and accountable to parliament, the commission is independent of government. Its immediate task is the impartial management of free and fair elections at all government levels.

To ensure credibility of the elections, transparency of the election process is critical. Transparency is especially important in ensuring that votes captured in the electronic results system can be easily verified against the votes as reflected in the results slip signed by the presiding officers and political party representatives in each voting station.

For the first time in its history the IEC introduced the process of scanning results slips during the 2009 National and Provincial Elections (NPE). More than 38000 result slips were printed with barcodes and scanned at the results capturing sites in order to provide a visual image paired to an electronic result. The use of barcodes enabled the automation of linking the scanned image with an electronic record of the captured results. The innovation was achieved by using the latest image scanning and custom application development technologies to support the South African democratic process.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The solution utilized a combination of new scanner hardware, integrated packaged and custom software scan, index, store and display the result slips. The solution further entrenched the Commission’s objective for a transparent and credible election as political parties and the media could verify the accuracy of the results captured on the Results System against the signed image of the original results slip that was signed at the voting station. Further, the simplified access to the scanned images ensured that political parties and the media could easily retrieve and verify the scanned images without depending on IEC staff to provide copies to them. The reporting capability linked to the solution allowed management to track the results capturing results slip scanning progress on an ongoing basis and take corrective action where necessary. Lastly but not least, the accuracy and efficiency of the results auditing process was markedly improved with a record decrease in audit queries. Auditors could easily look at the scanned image and compare with data captured on the Results System without having to run around finding the results slip hard copy.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The solution is a proactive initiative of the IEC’s IT department. It received the support of the Commission’s management and was developed together with a partner from the private sector – the First Coast Technologies who assisted in the development of the scanner software. Funding was carried out by the IEC.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
a. The strategy was to develop an electronic system that would improve the transparency of the voting process.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
b. The project team was established and chaired by the Chief Information Officer of the Commission. It met on a regular bases to brainstorm on the solution and determined terms of reference for work that needed to be done. Proper financial implications were considered and funds solicited from within the commission. A smaller team was mandated to work with software developers to ensure that the solution was in the end what had been envisaged. Officers of the IEC were trained and the solution was implemented. To deal with the unforeseen failure of scanning hardware, a backup solution linked to a fax-to-mail facility was also implemented. Scanner operators had an option of faxing the results slips to a predetermined fax number. An automated utility monitored incoming faxes was developed thus ensuring a seamless integration of the faxing solution with the Results System. Apart from the solution rollout plan, the network bandwidth between offices was increased, 400 desktop scanners were rolled out to municipal offices and a support desk staffed with more than ten people was set up to provide the necessary support.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
c. Training- the successful implementation of the solution relied on thorough training of scanner operators. Due to time constraints, limited training sessions could be scheduled in time for the elections. To further complicate the situation, some of the scanner operators were not familiar with the operation of scanners and the scanning solution. To alleviate the problem, the support desk had to phone more than 250 municipal offices and guide users over the phone on how to operate the scanners. In future the use of Computer Based Training could be used to complement the training of users. Recorded DVD’s explaining the scanning process could also be shipped to the municipal sites. Software rollout challenges – unlike the web-based electoral systems used by the IEC which are managed centrally and require no physical rollout, a specialized rollout was required for the scanning software which was used to perform the actual scanning. The size of the software made it impossible to do the rollout over the network. To address the challenge, the team needed to burn CD’s with configured software and have them couriered to all municipal offices throughout the country. The distribution of CD’s to the municipal offices was slow. In addition to this limited technical skills of users at the municipal offices also complicated the rollout. Installation of the software was then driven by an image scanning call centre that called each office and installed the software on at least two computers (one for backup purposes)

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
d. The project was funded internally by IEC. Total cost is R7.6 million (approx 2 million US dollars) and covered software development, licences, custom development, equipment of 400 scanners and implementation across the country.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The solution is transferable and sustainable. It has already been implemented for municipal government elections, voter registration forms, staff and attendance registers. Future implementation include scanning invoiced and forms submitted by the election candidates.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The solution allowed the IEC to entrench its objective of running a credible and transparent election. The implementation of the solution on the municipal elections, by-elections and voter registration process will also contribute towards the transparency of elections. In addition to this, the solution will also for a long way in saving storage costs as physical forms can be exposed of after a predefined period. Keeping electoral records of signed contracts and attendance registers for electoral staff will play a critical role in the auditing exercise thus avoiding a qualified audit.
The solution has also worked as a catalyst in many rural parts of the country as these are still constrained in terms of telecommunication infrastructure. To deal with the challenge of limited bandwidth, the team had to implement bandwidth-saving measures at every point in the scanning, processing and uploading processes. This was achieved by using a high comprehension file format also optimization of display functions on the results system. To deal with the risk of network failure, the team implemented technologies that allowed for off-line scanning during periods when the network was unavailable. Whenever the network connectivity is established, the scanned images would be automatically transferred to the central database at national office.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Electoral Commission of South Africa
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Libisi Maphanga
Title:   Chief Information Officer  
Telephone/ Fax:   0124285589
Institution's / Project's Website:   0124285333
E-mail:   libisi@elections.org.za  
Address:   260 Walker Street; Sunnyside
Postal Code:   0002
City:   PRETORIA
State/Province:   GAUTENG
Country:   South Africa

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