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R e v u ed el ’ I n s t i t u td uM o n d ee td udéveloppement
appropriate to the implementation and the running of e-services. There-
fore, it requires an adaptation, or even a transformation, of the way these
employees are working. This process is necessary to ensure the transition
from “paper administration” to “digital administration”.
Thus, new technologies have a double impact on the running of adminis-
trations since local authorities do not only have to rationalize the running
of their public services but to ensure the training of the employees assigned
to applying the digital revolution implementation as well.
This double evolution can be illustrated through the example of electronic
vote or e-voting. Indeed, in the municipalities that have implemented elec-
tronic vote, the suppression of the «ballot paper» brings about a reduction
of cost insofar as it is not necessary to send the ballot paper anymore to
offices or to the citizens who are registered on electoral lists. However it is
important to specify that this expenditure reduction does not only concern
municipalities. Indeed, in the French system, mayors are responsible for the
management of polls, but it may be noticed that Prefects are in charge of the
pre-election and post election logistics. Thus, contrary to other countries,
the diffusion of the propaganda material is not directly achieved by politi-
cal parties but by State services. Candidates certainly support the printing
cost of ballot papers and professions of faith before getting a repayment by
the State if necessary. But the diffusion of these documents in the polls and
to citizens registered on the electoral lists rests on prefectures.
The global cost of routing represents an important amount since it settled,
for example, to 24.5 million euros for the presidential election of 2007 and
about 50 million euros for the referendum of 2005 on the European consti-
tutional Treaty. However, the expenses necessary to fold and deliver elec-
toral documents have been increasing these last years. That’s why an audit
report dedicated to this topic recommended in 2006 to generalize the use of
the voting machines to favor a reduction of these expenses. It is necessary
to specify that the municipalities that enter into this process would receive
from the State a subsidy of 400 euros per machine for a total cost of about
4000 euros. The renting of machines is not on the other hand subsidized.
This report underlines that “the savings achieved mainly concern muni-
cipalities (reduction of the polls number, saving time during the counting
stage) but in the long run it can have an impact on the printing of ballot
papers. In the same way the accelerated counting reduces the centralization
operations of the results and the duration of the election nights that mobi-
lize staff to record the results, to control them and to transmit them to the
ministry of the Interior”.
However, at the same time, the electronic vote makes municipalities support
other financial burdens as it is necessary to appoint some employees to the
correct functioning of electoral operations and to ensure that the voters of
the municipalities master the running of voting machines. Moreover, these
o
RIMD–n 4–2013
R e v u ed el ’ I n s t i t u td uM o n d ee td udéveloppement
appropriate to the implementation and the running of e-services. There-
fore, it requires an adaptation, or even a transformation, of the way these
employees are working. This process is necessary to ensure the transition
from “paper administration” to “digital administration”.
Thus, new technologies have a double impact on the running of adminis-
trations since local authorities do not only have to rationalize the running
of their public services but to ensure the training of the employees assigned
to applying the digital revolution implementation as well.
This double evolution can be illustrated through the example of electronic
vote or e-voting. Indeed, in the municipalities that have implemented elec-
tronic vote, the suppression of the «ballot paper» brings about a reduction
of cost insofar as it is not necessary to send the ballot paper anymore to
offices or to the citizens who are registered on electoral lists. However it is
important to specify that this expenditure reduction does not only concern
municipalities. Indeed, in the French system, mayors are responsible for the
management of polls, but it may be noticed that Prefects are in charge of the
pre-election and post election logistics. Thus, contrary to other countries,
the diffusion of the propaganda material is not directly achieved by politi-
cal parties but by State services. Candidates certainly support the printing
cost of ballot papers and professions of faith before getting a repayment by
the State if necessary. But the diffusion of these documents in the polls and
to citizens registered on the electoral lists rests on prefectures.
The global cost of routing represents an important amount since it settled,
for example, to 24.5 million euros for the presidential election of 2007 and
about 50 million euros for the referendum of 2005 on the European consti-
tutional Treaty. However, the expenses necessary to fold and deliver elec-
toral documents have been increasing these last years. That’s why an audit
report dedicated to this topic recommended in 2006 to generalize the use of
the voting machines to favor a reduction of these expenses. It is necessary
to specify that the municipalities that enter into this process would receive
from the State a subsidy of 400 euros per machine for a total cost of about
4000 euros. The renting of machines is not on the other hand subsidized.
This report underlines that “the savings achieved mainly concern muni-
cipalities (reduction of the polls number, saving time during the counting
stage) but in the long run it can have an impact on the printing of ballot
papers. In the same way the accelerated counting reduces the centralization
operations of the results and the duration of the election nights that mobi-
lize staff to record the results, to control them and to transmit them to the
ministry of the Interior”.
However, at the same time, the electronic vote makes municipalities support
other financial burdens as it is necessary to appoint some employees to the
correct functioning of electoral operations and to ensure that the voters of
the municipalities master the running of voting machines. Moreover, these
o
RIMD–n 4–2013
