Data protection violation and incorrect voter register in the election administration system (EWAS) of the federal ÖH
Vienna (OTS) – The electronic election administration system (EWAS) is causing unrest in the upcoming ÖH election campaign. Instead of the complete voter registers being available since yesterday, March 30, as required by the university election regulations (HSWO), the EWAS commissioned by the federal ÖH only spits out a faulty data jumble including data protection violations.
“We were assured by the federal ÖH that the development of the EWAS is running perfectly and that the system is working as planned. The fact that no useful directories were sent yesterday and that there were even data breaches shocks us as an action community just as much as it does the election commissions across the country with which we are in close contact,” says Muhammed Durmaz, top candidate and federal chairman of the action community.
The electoral register has always been managed by the Federal Computing Center (BRZ) and was outsourced to a private company for the first time this year at the request of the Federal ÖH. The incomplete and erroneous directories also contained non-public personal information, such as social security numbers. This not only leads to a delay in the publication of the voter lists, but also to gross data protection violations. Durmaz demands a statement from the federal ÖH: “It is clear to us that the federal ÖH and the left-wing executive are responsible for this chaos. We are finally expecting a clear statement from the federal ÖH chairwoman Keya Baier and personnel consequences.
No sign of crisis communication
The situation is made worse by the lack of crisis communication from the federal ÖH. “The ÖH’s crisis communication has completely failed. Since yesterday, the election commissions have been receiving regular emails promising them updates. “But this promise has not been kept to date,” explains Maximilian Veichtlbauer, club chairman of the AG in the federal representation.
“I find it particularly shocking that the local university representatives were only officially informed by the federal ÖH today. The university representatives were left in the dark for a whole day regarding the serious problems with the EWAS. This behavior is unacceptable and absolutely irresponsible, especially with regard to the upcoming ÖH elections. Apparently, VSSTÖ and GRAS are more busy with the election campaign than ensuring that the election is carried out properly.”
Questions & contact:
Viktoria Feichtinger
+43 664 4608555
Viktoria.feichtinger@aktionsgemeinschaft.at
