CIVICS — Comprehending Internet Voting Impact on Open Government: An International Comparative Study

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10062/84059

The CIVICS project is inspired by the assumption that the use of i-voting for e-consultations, e-referenda, and especially e-elections promotes direct, participatory, and representative democracy as well as more transparent, engaging, and accountable governance. To test this, the project puts forward the objectives to identify i-voting impact on voters, civil society organisations, authorities, open government as a system, and discover conditions affecting i-voting impact in these aspects.
In contrast to the available studies that focus on a single country, a specific i-voting campaign, or a narrow aspect and miss the link to open government, this research endeavours to examine a more complete set of i-voting countries, campaigns, instruments, dimensions and associate i-voting with open government. Conceptually it views open government as collaborative public policy making by citizens and authorities. Methodologically it is being studied by policy analysis of i-voting legislation and reports; content-analysis of public and civic websites; statistical analysis of i-voting results tables, log files and public opinion surveys; and qualitative comparative analysis of i-voting- and open government-related variables.
The project is carried out at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia – the pioneer institution researching e-government in the only country in the world that has implemented i-elections for all voters. Principally, the action is performed in collaboration with the ECePS ERA Chair in E-governance and Digital Public Services research team, mastering advanced methods of statistical analysis, and using mixed methods to model and assess the impact of i-voting on open government venturing to circulate academic findings and practical recommendations for a more influential i-voting, empowered e-participation, and good e-governance.

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Open Government Policy Making by Popular Voting: Comparing Canada and New Zealand
(Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs, 2024-05-10) Khutkyy, Dmytro; Carmichael, Logan
The connection between open government policy and popular voting is understudied, yet it can reveal interesting patterns of policymaking that blend agenda setting, policy formulation, and decision-making in semiformalized fluid forms. This inquiry investigates the link between policy voting and open government by comparing the case studies of cocreating open government partnership national action plans in Canada and New Zealand. It examines the role of voting within the policy cycle of open government as a system of governance comprised of transparency, participation, accountability, and civic education. It further employs an exploratory mixed-methods approach of analyzing applied reports, official documents, social media campaigns, and expert interviews. It was found that not the voting format but the government’s approach to interaction with stakeholders is associated with the diverging patterns of open government in the two countries.
Internet Voting for Policy Proposals: Amplifying Open Government in Chile and Colombia
(JeDEM, 2023-10-18) Khutkyy, Dmytro; Laureda, Eduardo Astudillo
This paper investigates the impact of internet voting for draft policy proposals in the framework of Open Government Partnership, on the whole ecosystem of open government in Chile and Colombia. The research objective is, to identify the impact of i-voting for policy proposals on voters, civil society organizations, government authorities and open government overall, taking into account public transparency, civic participation and public accountability. Methodologically, this international comparison of case studies has employed a mixed methods approach including the analysis of applied reports, legislation, social media and expert interviews. It was found that in Chile and Colombia, the i-voting for policy proposals helped bridge remote parts of the countries and thus, make democratic participation more inclusive. Ultimately, the non-binding consultative i-voting for draft open government policies in both countries empowered civil society, working in the open government domain to advocate sectoral policies to be introduced by the government.
“Citizen Engagement and Open Government Co-creation: The Cases of Brazil and the Dominican Republic.” Pp. 199–204. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (DGO '23).
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2023-07-11) Khutkyy, Dmytro
This paper describes and evaluates practical digital government initiatives of online deliberation and internet voting of the Open Government Partnership co-creation processes. In this inquiry, the case studies of e-participation and i-voting for open government policies in the Dominican Republic in 2014 and 2016 as well as in Brazil in 2016 and 2018 are compared. The objective of the study is to assess the impact of the digitally powered co-creation processes on open government in the Dominican Republic and Brazil regarding transparency, accountability, and participation. This inquiry applied manual qualitative content analysis of e-deliberation and i-voting tools, analysis of applied reports, and policy analysis of official documents. It was found that in the Dominican Republic and Brazil the digital co-creation process co-evolved together with the government-civil society collaboration over several policy-making cycles. Citizen e-crowdsourcing and i-voting at earlier stages elaborated at later in-person discussion and drafting by civil society and authorities in Brazil proved to be more empowering and efficient than just online voting for government-defined policy priorities in the Dominican Republic. Government approaches and practices of citizen engagement and process reporting affected the co-creation.
Voting in online surveys on open government policies in Moldova and Ukraine
(Internet Policy Review, 2023-06-21) Khutkyy, Dmytro; Matveieva, Olga; Mirza-Grisco, Diana
The socio-political impact of voting in online surveys on open government is understudied. This inquiry aims to identify the socio-political impact of voting in online surveys on voters, civil society organisations, government authorities and open government overall in Moldova and Ukraine in 2016 and in 2018. This article applies mixed methods of data collection and analysis: analysis of applied reports, policy analysis of documentation, manual qualitative content analysis of social media posts and of digital voting tools and semi-structured expert interviews of stakeholders. We found that the voting in online surveys for Open Government Partnership commitments influences open government, although more profoundly in Ukraine than in Moldova. Probably, this is due to more intensive and innovative multistakeholder efforts to implement civic education, transparency and accountability in Ukraine. The voting in online surveys occurred at dissimilar stages of policy-making: in Moldova – at the agenda-setting stage, while in Ukraine – at the policy-drafting and decision-making stages. In both countries, the impact of voting in online surveys was more manifest on collaboration between the public and the authorities than on civil society and the least on the authorities. Overall, a formally non-binding voting for policy priorities became an informally binding exercise.
Internet voting for open government: what, why, and how to introduce it in local communities
(EDDA-ECAS, 2023-04) Khutkyy, Dmytro; Lironi, Elisa
A number of local communities in Europe have introduced elements of transparency, participation, and accountability in their municipalities. Still, given the abundance of available data and civic engagement forms, there is always a potential for further development. This is especially promising with the help of the open government framework that encourages the introduction of innovative and digital technologies. One notable tool is internet voting (i-voting) since it is able to empower people with a more direct and influential voice in local policy making. Thereby, this paper suggests some concepts and models of open government and i-voting, provides several examples, outlines preconditions, discusses risks, and offers recommendations for introducing i-voting and enhancing open government. This brief is designed as a source of ideas for advancing open government and i-voting in local communities.
Internet voting for open government: what, why, and how to introduce it in European countries
(EDDA-ECAS, 2023-04) Khutkyy, Dmytro; Lironi, Elisa
Many countries on the European continent have already established solid national procedures ensuring transparency, participation, and accountability. However, these can be further strengthened by applying the open government approach with a special emphasis on innovative and digital technologies. Amongst these processes, internet voting (i-voting) stands out as being capable of empowering people with more feasible direct participation in policy making. This paper refers to the concepts and models of open government and i-voting, provides examples, outlines preconditions, discusses risks, and offers recommendations for introducing i-voting, especially at the national level. It is intended as an inspirational paper for advancing open government and i-voting.
Internet voting for open government: what, why, and how to introduce it in the European Union
(EDDA-ECAS, 2023-04) Khutkyy, Dmytro; Lironi, Elisa
In recent decades, the European Union (EU) has introduced multiple elements of transparency, participation, and accountability in its decision-making processes. Yet, these can always be enhanced by applying the open government approach that puts a special emphasis on innovative and digital technologies. One of such technologies is internet voting (i-voting), which can empower people with more direct participation in policy making. This paper refers to the concepts and models of open government and i-voting, provides examples, outlines preconditions, discusses risks, and offers recommendations for introducing i-voting. It is intended as an inspirational paper for advancing open government and i-voting at the EU level.
"The Diffusion of Electronic Voting for Participatory Budgeting Projects: Evidence from Ukraine" Pp. 117-120. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Electronic Voting E-Vote-ID 2022. Edited by R. Krimmer et al.
(University of Tartu Press, 2022) Khutkyy, Dmytro
Electronic voting for participatory budgeting projects in Ukraine it is understudied. Therefore, the paper aims to investigate the patterns of diffusion of e-voting for participatory budgeting projects in Ukraine. This quantitative inquiry scrutinized data about 175 Ukrainian communities that have practiced e-participatory budgeting during 2017-2020 utilizing descriptive and inferential statistics,as well as ANOVA analysis of variance, bivariate and partial correlation analysis. It became evident that participatory budgeting e-voting diffusion vary greatly across Ukrainian communities. Overall, there are some indications of an ongoing digitalization of participatory budgeting voting, which cannot be stated with ab-solute certainty. The one definitely confirmed pattern of participatory budgeting e-voting diffusion in Ukrainian communities is that longer duration of participatory budgeting is associated with higher e-voting rates.

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