electronic voting
Vincent Crabbe
In this interview, Vincent Crabbe discusses his experience confronting the many challenges of ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections. One of the chief obstacles to transparent elections is the compilation of a reliable voter registry. For instance, in the absence of birth certificates and other forms of identification, he notes the difficulty of ascertaining whether a voter is of legal voting age. Other obstacles to compiling the lists include the fact that multiple individuals have the same name. Crabbe explains key reforms to Ghana’s elections process that he believes are transferrable to other countries, including see-through ballot boxes and counting ballots at polling stations to reduce the likelihood of tampering with while en route to counting centers. Finally, Crabbe sheds light on what he believes are the key attributes required for an electoral commissioner.
Case Study: Keeping the Peace in a Tense Election: Ghana, 2008
At the time of this interview, Vincent Crabbe was the co-chairman of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers, which monitored all aspects of public elections in Ghana. Decades earlier, Crabbe established the country’s Electoral Commission. In 1968, he was appointed interim electoral commissioner. In this role, he oversaw the 1969 democratic elections that brought an end to military rule. Crabbe's status as interim electoral commissioner was equivalent to that of a judge on the Court of Appeals. He also served as the chairman of the Constituent Assembly for the drafting of Ghana's 1979 Constitution, as parliamentary counsel and constitutional adviser to the Ugandan government, and as director of the Commonwealth Secretariat Scheme for Legislative Draftsmen for the West, East, Southern and Central Africa Regions and the Caribbean Region. He also drafted the Guiding Principles for UNESCO in the field of Education, Scientific and Cultural Exchanges. He taught at the International Law Development Centre in Rome, Italy, and was a professor of legislative drafting at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados.
Kunzang Wangdi
At the time of this interview, Kunzang Wangdi was chief election commissioner of Bhutan. In that capacity he set up and ran Bhutan’s first democratic elections. Prior to his appointment as commissioner in 2005, Wangdi served as auditor general of Bhutan’s Royal Audit Authority. He was also director of the Royal Institute of Management. Wangdi began working for Bhutan’s civil service in 1977. He received a bachelor’s degree in English from St. Stephens College in India and completed a master’s degree in public administration at Penn State.
Rebooting the System: Technological Reforms in Nigerian Elections, 2010-2011
Gabriel Kuris drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria, in October 2011. Case published March 2012. For a broader analysis of Nigeria's 2011 elections, see "Toward a Second Independence: Repairing Nigeria's Electoral Commission, 2010-2011."
Associated Interview(s): Nyimbi Oderos, Dapo Olorunyomi
Gocool Boodoo
At the time of this interview, Gocool Boodoo was chief elections officer at the Guyana Elections Commission. He previously served in various public relations and administrative capacities at the commission. Prior to his work at the Commission, he was the head of the Department of Foundations and Administration of the School of Education of the University of Guyana. His initial work with the commission was in the preparation of training and policy manuals for electoral workers. After serving as deputy commissioner for administration, he became chief elections officer in 2001, and he supervised both the March 2001 and 2006 national elections.