2. Election Returns within Three Hours

Panamas presidential election on May 3, 2009, was a tense drama, as most are, but in two and a half hours after the polls closed, the country heard the outcome. Given that many of the nations citizens are located in small, remote villages, and others in dense jungles, miles from the nearest landlines, this was an impressive achievement. But it was no accidentit was the outcome of a major project to restore faith in the government of a country racked by the fraud of the 1983 Manuel Noriega dictatorship by providing quick feedback to the populace through compressed reporting schedules.

The essence of the project boiled down to two thrusts. The first was a decades long continuing effort by Panamas Electoral Tribunal to establish a valid electoral database through mandatory birth and death records, plus biometric data (fingerprints, photo recognition software, etc.) to capture key milestones in each citizens life, so only eligible citizens could vote, only once and only for the candidates and issues relevant to their location. The second thrust was technological, involving the establishment and use of highly secure communication channels, including telephone lines, satellite phones, VHF radio links, and for this election, a new wireless application protocol (WAP) that was written from scratch, encrypted, authenticated, and extensively tested. To be sure it worked smoothly and securely, polling station attendants were trained in using the app and then the app was simulated for 12 extensive tests at polling stations. During the simulations, security experts and ethical hackers from the United States tested and probed the systems defenses, resulting in last minute changes to both the software and the procedures for using it, such as password access.

In the press center for the election where voting details by province would be immediately posted, a giant 19 by 25 foot monitoring screen was installed to report the vote. This screen was surrounded by four smaller screens to provide more voting details such as number of valid, blank, and null votes, level of voting participation, local issues, interactive maps of the nation, and so on. Not surprisingly, the Electoral Tribunal responsible for elections immediately started preparing for the 2014 election and planned to extend the system to other elections, such as legislative and city mayoral and councilor elections.

Questions: a. This example consists of two projects: a long-term project to improve the election reporting cycle process and its validity, and the second to actually execute this new process in the 2009 national election. Which one do you think had the most pressure on its task schedule?

b. Which of Panamas two thrusts do you think was the more difficult? Why?

c. Which thrust do you suspect had the greatest pressure on its schedule?