Barcelona City Council organizes Telematic Councils

Electronic voting for all types of organizations

Historian Yuval Noah Harari recently stated in an article for the Financial Times that the world will never be the same after the pandemic. One of the changes the author of Sapiens and Homo Deus anticipates is the accelerated digitalization of many sectors. Indeed, after successive lockdown extensions in several countries, numerous companies and governments have adopted not only remote work but also virtual meetings, assemblies, and councils.

Barcelona City Council adopts online voting

This was the case for Barcelona City Council. Fifteen entities under the council’s umbrella, including major institutions such as the Municipal Institute of Social Services, the Municipal Institute of Education, and the Barcelona Culture Foundation, were scheduled to hold their board meetings in April. However, in March, the state of emergency was declared. With council members confined to their homes, in-person meetings became impossible.

The council’s IT director, Nacho Santillana, knew it was possible to offer these entities the option of voting online. But how could they launch such a service with all the necessary guarantees in less than two weeks? That’s when he reached out to us.

"Meeting in person was no longer an option, so we needed an alternative."

Close-up of male hands on the keyboard of a laptop computer in an office of the Barcelona City Council.

Standard voting software with custom developments

Although Kuorum has been helping public and private clients to hold telematic meetings and assemblies with reliable electronic voting for seven years, this time we were faced with the challenge of assigning multiple voting rights - as some of the voters were members of several Boards. In a few days we developed the necessary improvements to launch this new functionality into production. And within a week we had the Barcelona City Council voting platform ready to host all the councils and, on occasion, the previous commissions.

Some entities chose to combine telematic voting with a video conferencing session where they presented the year’s results. Others sent information to voters by email a few days before the vote - information that was also accessible through the platform. All of this was possible thanks to the platform’s contact management feature, which allows bulk emails to be sent to segmented audiences.

Secure identification process and reliable voting

The voting process verifies user identities through two- or three-factor authentication (personal password, SMS verification code, and/or biometric signature). The client opted for two-factor authentication, which offers a level of security comparable to that required for most online banking transactions. Voters with questions during the voting process could contact our call center directly for assistance.

Just minutes after each vote, the Kuorum team provided the client with detailed reports, including logs of the voting process. In addition to enabling these meetings, which would have otherwise been impossible, Barcelona City Council saved on travel costs, room bookings, and CO2 emissions.

If you have any doubts about electronic voting, contact us and we will guide you without obligation.