After a first moment of doubts and uncertainties, the labor reform promoted by the Government of the PSOE and Podemos went ahead. It was approved thanks to the carelessness of Alberto Casero, a deputy from the Popular Party who voted in favor electronically. He did it, allegedly, “by human error.” However, members and representatives of his party attribute it to a computer error, alleging that the system interpreted a “yes” when Casero voted “no” to the labor reform. But, how does telematic voting work? Is it possible that it fails?
The objective of the telematic voting system is to allow those deputies who cannot attend Congress in person due to illness or other justified cause, to be able to take part in the voting in that session. It is basically an online vote. In order for deputies to be able to vote from home, they need to access the Congress Intranet through an online platform where representatives must accredit themselves with their username and password. In that portal you can see the previous votes, according to ElDiario.es, and also the current ones. All of them show important information, such as the objective of that proposal or the deadline to vote. But, how is the vote exercised?
Let's take as an example that a sick deputy, as is the case of Alberto Casero, cannot go to the Congress of Deputies and needs to vote electronically. To do this, you only have to access the aforementioned portal, log in with your passwords, click on the name of the session that is taking place at that time and scroll to a section called “Files available to vote electronically” . There will appear all the topics to be discussed by voting. Those in which the voting period has expired will be marked in red. Those still available, instead, will be shown in black.
Then, the deputy must select one of the three buttons that appear next to the description of those proposals available for voting. You can choose between three options: “Yes”, which is highlighted in green; “No”, displayed in red; and “Abstention”, in yellow”. These are the same tones used in the Congress voting system, so it can be useful to avoid confusion.
Once the box is selected, the deputy must confirm the action through a button called “Cast a vote”. Then, the portal will proceed to show a summary of the telematic vote. If everything is correct, you can send the vote by clicking on the “Finish voting” button. If not, you can go back to rectify it. However, once the button that ends the vote is pressed, the result is sent to Congress and there is no way to rectify it.
Can the telematic voting system fail?
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya The PP maintains that the vote cast by its deputy was a system failure, and not a human error. They assure that Alberto Casero voted “no”, but that the certificate that was issued once confirmed the vote, showed a “yes”, although they have confirmed that they have no evidence. Have you ever failed? According to El País, which cites official sources from the Courts, a ruling related to the telematic voting system has never been reported. The history of human error with this method, however, is quite extensive. Casero, in fact, is not the first time he has made a mistake by casting his vote.
The telematic voting system has never failed in Congress
However, the fact that the telematic vote of the Congress of Deputies has never failed does not mean that it can do so in the future. There is always a first time. In fact, in 2006, the Constitutional Court annulled a vote of the Basque parliament after the deputy Irene Novales reported computer failures that prevented her from making her decision. The difference with the case of Alberto Casero is that Novales' vote was simply not counted, and it was not a misinterpretation of the system, as the PP claim.
For the time being, those parties that were against the labor reform will appeal to the Congress and the Constitutional Court to try to annul Alberto Casero's telematic vote and, therefore, overthrow the reform. This one, for the moment, goes ahead.
