Barcelona City Council organizes Telematic 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.
Standard voting software with custom developments
At Kuorum, we’ve spent seven years helping public and private clients hold virtual meetings and assemblies with legally binding electronic voting. However, this case presented a unique challenge: assigning multiple voting rights to some voters who were members of several boards. Within a few days, we developed the necessary features to launch this new functionality. In just one week, we had Barcelona City Council’s voting platform ready to host all their board meetings and, in some cases, their preliminary committees as well.
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.
In the following video, our client Nacho Santillana shares his experience with the service. If you’re considering electronic voting, contact us, and we’ll be happy to guide you, with no strings attached.
"It’s a very convenient process, and we now use it frequently for decision-making."
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