With the publication of the announcement in the Official Gazette, the race to implement electronic voting in the Buenos Aires elections began. The government of Buenos Aires will allocate a budget US$29.1 million for the conduct of PASO, the general election and a possible second round. It is the same system already used in 2015 and, curious fact, the two main candidates the same ones who competed 8 years ago remain in the company: MSA and Smartmatic.
Officially, the winning company must meet sufficient background and technical requirements credit US$3.08 at the official exchange rate for each registered voter. In the City, 3,150,000 people are authorized to vote in 9,000 polling stations. Hence, the winning company could bill more than $7,000 millionaccording to official calculations.
The Single Electronic Vote (BUE) will in principle be used on 13 August and 22 October, “in conjunction” with national elections, which are voted with physical ballots and ballot boxes. The ballot, if necessary, is scheduled for November 19. Those interested in providing the system, previously, must present the machines to be subjected to checks, tests and verifications to get approval.
The two most interested have precedents in the country and abroad. MSA is of national origin. It was created in 1995 and was software-oriented (its first name was Magic Software Argentina), but later it focused on providing electoral infrastructure: voting and counting machines. In Argentina and some countries in the region it competes with the Spanish Indra (who will be responsible for the interim national control), the Anglo-American Smartmatic, the Korean Miru System and Dominion Votingof the US capital.
In the market they argue that Indra would not sign up for the fight. Beyond this, the numbers that the Buenos Aires government is evaluating raise doubts. Not so much for the average value of each estimated grade (very similar to the rest of the region) but pOR the form of payment in a context of high exchange rate volatility and devaluation risk. The companies They have to bid in dollars, but the conversion to pesos is done on the day of the auction. “The form of payment is critical,” a company source said.
The Government foresees the following timetable. The 40% is paid in three stages: 15% upfront, another 15% upon delivery of the training machines, and 10% upon completion of the education. The 60% is paid in two parts: half after PASO and the final 30% after the end of the general election at the end of October. For this reason, there are companies that claim to have budgeted “below actual cost”.
We will have to wait to see the final numbers, but for now the City Council headquarters have underlined that electronic voting this year it will cost 7% less than in 2015. On that occasion, MSA pocketed $3.32 per vote for a voter registration of 2,513,000 people. This year, with new voters and more polling stations, they estimate it between 11,000 and 12,000 electronic ballot boxes are to be distributed throughout the district.
“The so-called OX is a hybrid mechanism, i.e. partly physical because it is inserted in a device that prints the electoral options chosen and also records them electronically in a radio frequency data collector (chip), which is located inside the electoral card ” , explained former national electoral director Alejandro Tullio a few days ago, as recalled by the specialist, now a consultant the system has been used repeatedly in Salta, Chaco, now in Neuquén and in some municipalities of Córdoba.
In the Buenos Aires area, they are excited about the possibility of the race progressing without major setbacks. That is to say that no disputes or complaints arise from competing companies. In the preview, Smartmatic is MSA’s main rival and they claim that they are “analyzing the tender documents”. It was the company that carried out the nationwide interim check in 2019, instead of Indra, the most veteran in that industry, which would have no interest in joining the fight.
Source: Clarin
