Fiji elections system glitch

There was a glitch in the system that was doing the ballot counting for Fiji’s national election counting process this week, here’s my take.

I’ll stay clear of comments on the election results and its credibility. It’s bad enough that this nation is divided to the core on who it feels should lead and will lead well.

This close to Christmas, instead of the usual festivities and merry-making at the happiest place on earth, discussions around the grog bowls, family gatherings, in taxis and small talk on the streets have been tense, anxiously staying clear of debating the elections and preferred candidates. For fear of being seen to have chosen the wrong candidate, or to not jeopardise personal relationships, and the way we look at each other from here on.

It is a very sensitive election for Fiji. Those who felt their vote could really make a difference  stood for hours in the scourging heat to make it count. People were proud of it too and shared updates on social media with their ink marked finger and “I’ve voted” badges.

One thing must be noted though, for a country where birth registration, Taxation, voter registration, as well as, vaccination records have been digitised: the entire voting process on-site and during the day is completely manual. From the time you enter the polling station, you queue up to have your name marked on a thick registration book for attendance, next, you have to sign for having completed the voting process, even the tick, circle or cross of your choice of candidate is done with a pen on paper. This is then to be folded and put in a plastic container, the ballot box.The votes are subsequently counted electronically as claimed by the Supervisor of elections then entered into an electronic results management system, to communicate results to the public. This system  was suddenly called to a halt at 11pm on the first night. The only explanation given was that a glitch occurred in the app. It set off alarm bells  across the nation. Other media outlets report a drop in the transfer of data from the laptop that was used for updating. 

Clearly there has been an issue. Was there an incident? Has it been investigated? Where are the reports? Shouldn’t there be full transparency to protect the integrity of the electoral process and data?

The electronic system may not fall under critical national infrastructure, but the election process certainly does. The constant nationwide blackouts and water cuts have been failing the nation miserably this year too, but there was no blackout on the night of the elections and the internet did not go down either.

The supervisor of elections has a responsibility to the nation to give full and  accurate information on the election process and hence, ought to report on what has happened with the app. Preparing for these elections has been a 4 year process with taxpayer money going towards its preparation. 

Was the app tested thoroughly before launch?  Was it tested to handle the load? What was the glitch? Did the app crash? Did the laptop go down or was it the internet? Is there only one laptop for updates? 

If there was an interruption with the transfer then how is it that some data made it on live immediately without the transfer being complete and how is the integrity of the data assured to justify that even though numbers have doubled significantly for some candidates this is not a result of the system glitch but in fact true data. 

Answers to the above questions are needed in the interests of integrity of data, the results (communications) process and capability of the system. 

If this were one of us systems or IT people, it would have been our head on the table. While whoever was technically operating the system may have to get a slap on the wrist, those responsible for the IT security decisions should be held to public account – the nation was counting on you!