Romania plans new system against multiple voting

Romania tries to implement a new system that would prevent and fight multiple voting. Marcel Opris, director of Romania’s Special Telecommunication Service (STS) recently presented this system, based on scanning the ID card and identifying the personal number CNP. The new system might be widely used in the 2016 local elections, reports local Mediafax. According to Opris, such a system was introduced for the first time in 2010 at a college in Bucharest’s District 4, and was verified at two partial elections. The system involved installing a computer in every polling station, as well as equipment used for scanning the voters’ ID card and identifying the CNP. The system can only scan certain areas of the ID card - the personal number, and the expiration date, without scanning the name. The data is then introduced into a database that shows if the citizen voted twice. The voters’ identity will not be known, only the number of voters and where they casted their vote. Such applications are protected and the data are encrypted, the STS director also said. There are alternative methods that can be used in areas where there is no Internet connection, such as sending a text message SMS or by a call center that would have the same legal status of the emergency number 112. The Electoral Code Commission in the Parliament received his proposal. Next week, the Parliament will debate the newly drafted election law. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com