African election fraud will persist despite innovation

Significance

International donors and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are promoting greater use of technology in elections across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Electoral technology deployment is already more widespread in the region than anywhere else.

Impacts

• Reliance on connective electoral technology will increase cybersecurity risks.
• Donors will support technological solutions but increasingly push for cheap and simple hardware and software.
• Electoral manipulation and voter harassment ahead of voting will prove more difficult to address through technological innovation.