ECES (www.eces.eu) and Democracy Essentials (DE) have collaborated since their establishment in 2010 in developing ICTs applications for electoral stakeholders, especially Electoral Management Bodies and Civil Society Organizations.
Thanks to the longstanding collaboration between the Founder of ECES Fabio Bargiacchi and the founder of DE Khaldoun Dudin and their experience in promoting electoral and democratic strengthening, we have jointly created several apps and guidelines to support electoral stakeholders and practitioners in their tasks, including the development of electoral forms and ballot paper design.
DE is a Brussels based enterprise which plays an important role in providing services in the wide domain of democracy support. It offers ICT related technical expertise applied in the fields of electoral assistance and observation, parliamentary and political party development, media and elections, migration and development.
Through this partnership, we have therefore produced the Polling Station Allocation System (GIS) application which is tailor to the need of the different countries we are working with, mainly in Africa and the Middle East.
The Polling Station Allocation - GIS is an application that utilises Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to map the locations of polling stations in a country. This tool is designed to facilitate logistical and operational planning for electoral events, thereby enhancing the traceability and transparency of the electoral process.
One of the main benefits of this system is its ability to provide data visualisation at voting centres and stations, which allows for a better understanding of the electoral process. By considering geographical factors and the distance to urban centres, the system enables better distribution of voting centres across the country.
The system records the exact location of all polling stations and provides key information such as road networks, distances from police stations, number of registered voters, distances between polling stations, nearest electoral office, access to people with disabilities, overnight storage facilities, and previous security and fraud incidents. Its database can be used to optimise the allocation of resources, reduce the risk of electoral fraud, and improve security measures. The system is an essential tool for electoral commissions and other organisations involved in managing electoral events.
The information of each polling station is imported in the system together with the logistical information of the station. The position and general information are than shown in the map of the system. The information include: the type of building where the polling station is located (school, hospital, police station, government office, among others), region, constituency, and number of register voters.
Picture 1: Information of the polling station
Picture 2: Specific information of a polling station are shown together with: the location, the kind of building that hosts the polling station, the region, constituency and number of voters inscribed in the station.
Picture 3: System image of the full map of Addis Ababa showing all the polling stations of the city.
