Technology is essential to the conduct of elections.
Technology is used at every stage of the election process, for example, for compiling voters lists, drawing electoral boundaries, employing and training staff, printing ballots, conducting voter education campaigns and publishing election results. The appropriate application of technology to elections can increase administrative efficiency, reduce long-term costs and enhance political transparency. Technologies used for elections can be 'old' ones like printing presses, ball-point pens, manual typewriters, electronic calculators and radios, or 'new' technologies like computers, optical scanners, digital mapping and the internet. Without access to technology, the logistics of modern large-scale elections would be beyond our abilities. The complexity of technology used for elections around the world varies enormously.