Elections Technology Governance

Hello, I am Ronan McDermott. I am currently based in Bern, Switzerland.

I am a freelance consultant specialising in the use of technology in elections processes and elections management. I work globally, or from home, as necessary.

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Brief Biography

Please see my CV here for more comprehensive information

I have worked extensively with elections management bodies in developing and post-conflict countries for almost twenty years, in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and in the Pacific. I participate in regional and global electoral support initiatives and have contributed to many publications and competence development efforts. In several countries, I developed and delivered voter registration, results management and poll-worker management systems.

Elsewhere, I provide advice to elections management bodies to enable them to specify, develop, procure, deploy and support a variety of technologies, including biometrics, in support of electoral processes, particularly voter registration and results management systems. In recent projects, the emphasis has been on assessing feasibility and advising on the practicalities of implementing new voting technologies.

Countries Regions

Please see my CV here for more details.

Kyrgyzstan Ukraine Pakistan Ethiopia Cambodia Zimbabwe SADC Sierra Leone Somalia Afghanistan CARICOM Nigeria Solomon Islands Kenya Indonesia Fiji Yemen Cote d'Ivoire Bangladesh India Moldova Zambia Haiti Nigeria D.R.C. Guyana Puerto Rico Liberia

Global Projects

As part of the Global Program for Electoral Cycle Support, I assisted SADC and CARICOM in modernising their electoral observation rosters.

Elections Management

I helped develop knowledge products and online training courses to help EMBs understand and better implement technology in elections processes.

Observing Elections

I developed and delivered training courses to observers ranging from Citizen Observers to EU-EOM Core Team.

Work/Life Balance

I enjoy hiking, cooking, music, current affairs and travel. In 2009, I hiked the Baltoro to Concordia (near K2) and Gondogoro La (pass at 5,585m).

My Experiences

Most recent missions and projects

Publications on Cybersecurity and RMS Q3-2022 Ongoing

I am drafting a guide on cybersecurity and election results management systems for a client.

EU Study on the cost of Elections Procurement Q3-2022 Ongoing

I am a member of a multi-disciplinary team looking at the cost of elections procurement on behalf of the European Commission (INTPA).

My Education

I attended primary and secondary school in Sligo, Ireland. Thereafter...

Computer Engineering - University of Limerick, Ireland Nat. Dip. Eng, 1983

Formerly the National Institute for Higher Education, the University of Limerick is one if Ireland's leading technology universities, modelled on MIT and Stanford

Postgraduate Degree in IT, Uni.of Liverpool, UK MSc 2009

Dissertation: "A methodology for the data-driven evaluation of voter registration databases in developing and post-conflict countries"

Selected Publications

A full list is available in my CV here

  • "Feasibility Study - On the Introduction of New Elections Technology for Ukraine", IFES Ukraine, on behalf of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ukraine, February 2020, available https://ifesukraine.org/publications/?lang=en
  • "Pakistan's Internet Voting Experiment", Proceedings of the E-Vote-ID 2019 Conference, R. Krimmer, et al (eds), TalTech Press, 2019, ISBN 978-9949-83-473-0
  • "Electoral Results Management Systems: Catalogue of Options", EU/UNDP Joint Task Force on Electoral Assistance, 2015, lead author. Available at www.ec-undp-electoralassistance.org
  • “Electronic Voting in Ireland – a case study” in “Direct Democracy: Progress and Pitfalls of Election Technology”, IFES/Applied Research Center, July 2010, Michael Yard (editor). Available at www.ifes.org
  • “Evaluation of UNDP contribution to strengthening electoral systems and processes”, UNDP Evaluation Office, 2012, Team Member, author of ICT Thematic Case Study component. Available at http://web.undp.org/evaluation/evaluations/thematic/election.shtml

Resources I Consider Valuable

To follow, a list of internet resources on elections, technology, and related subjects.

Correspondence Address

Available on request. Kindly email me first!

Contact.

Available on request. Please email me first!

ronan@mcdis.com

mcdis.com