Alors que la démocratie électorale chilienne commence à se défaire lentement de l’héritage du régime de Portales, la modernisation des techniques et rituels de vote devient une question centrale. La réforme électorale de 1874 est ainsi désignée comme le point de départ de la démocratisation du vote. Cependant, l’ampleur des incertitudes qui s’ouvrent avec les modifications que cette réforme introduit nous obligent à remettre en question les rapports, très souvent présupposés, entre innovations technologiques et démocratisation. Afin d’examiner en détail cette problématique, notre thèse explore les transformations successives du cadre légal, des discours et des représentations iconographiques du vote, à partir de la démarche employée par la sociologie historique. La restitution des controverses, des débats et les différentes représentations de l’acte de vote contribuent à mieux nous faire comprendre les limites que la technologie du vote imposent à l‘expression d’une voix politique, dans une période où le système politique est en train de s’institutionnaliser et les métiers politiques en train de se professionnaliser. / While Chile’s electoral democracy slowly starts to forsake its Portalian stamp, the question about the reforms on vote’s rituals and techniques become crucial. Electoral Reform in 1874 is usually quoted as the first step of democratization rule. Nevertheless, the long list of doubts that opens up alongside with innovation, oblige us to question the relationship, typically presumed, between technological and democratic innovation. In order to examine this problematic issue, our thesis explores the successive transformation of the legal frame, the iconic discourse and the general representation of vote, through a historical-sociological point of view. The study of controversies in this field, the debate and the different representations of the act of vote, help us to deeply understand the limits impose by vote`s technologies to the expression of a political voice, in a time where political system are in process of becoming institutions and to become a politician evolves into a professionalization process.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: in Information Technology in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Supervisor: Dr Ephias Ruhode Cape Town campus December 2013 / The use of ICTs such as computers, electronic databases and other technologies have been in use for a number of years within the public sector to organise, manage and disseminate information to the public as well as to facilitate day-to-day communication in government offices. In this context, the value of the use of ICTs has been to assist and streamline government operations. The technological development in South Africa has opened up the possibilities of the use of ICTs in the democratic and governance process. E-democracy has been defined as a tool for abandoning the representative system for one with more direct citizen engagement. This study sets out to explore the challenges of the current electoral process, and also determine the factors that could influence the adoption and diffusion of e-voting technologies within the South African context. Literature has shown that countries such as Brazil and India have successfully implemented electronic voting systems and other countries are at various piloting stages to address many challenges and problems associated with manual paper based system such as costs of physical ballot paper and other overheads, electoral delays, distribution of electoral materials, and general lack of confidence in the electoral process. It is in this context that the study also seeks to determine whether the South African electoral management body can leverage on the opportunities that e-voting presents. However, with all the benefits that e-voting presents, there are countries such Germany, the Netherlands etc. that have tried and tested e-voting systems and decided to abandon these system to go back to the manual paper ballot voting systems because of various reasons ranging from cost, security and verifiability. This research is exploratory in nature and adopts qualitative research approach and it is within the interpretivism paradigm. Survey and interview strategies were used to collect data. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants for the survey. To gain an understanding of the views of voters and electoral management body (IEC) about the current electoral process and e-voting technologies, literature was explored, a questionnaire was distributed online to voters and an in-depth semi-structured interview was conducted with the IEC. The study targeted voters who had access to the internet since the survey questionnaire was distributed online. The analysis is based on thematic analysis and diffusion of innovation (DoI) theory was also used to provide an analytical framework for the study. Through this framework the aims and objectives of the study were conceptualized around three constructs from the theory (relative advantage, compatibility and complexity). The findings of the study revealed that the three constructs from the DoI framework are important factors that may influence the adoption process of e-voting technologies. The findings also revealed other factors such as availability of ICT enable infrastructure and resources, digital divide, trust in technology, awareness of the technology and environment could that also influence the adoption process. The contributions of this research are anticipated to be a better understanding of the adoption of e-voting technologies in South Africa. For the electoral management bodies, the contribution of this research is that the research to some extent portrays factors that could influence the adoption of e-voting technologies in South Africa. Therefore, findings such as availability of ICT infrastructure and accessibility of these infrastructures should be taken into consideration before introducing e-voting technologies. Keywords: DoI (diffusion of Innovation), e-voting (electronic voting) technologies, E-governance, e-participation.