E-Voting and Village Head Election (Case Study on the Election of the Village Head of Pamutih, Pemalang Regency)

Pemalang Regency in 2018 held a simultaneous village head election with the e-voting system. The transition from traditional elections to e-voting has become an issue in the community. but there is a trust issue in the e-voting system. Pamutih village is one of 172 villages that held elections using a voting approach with an e-voting system. Pamutih is categorized in the red zone because it is considered prone to conflict. Therefore, this article aims to examine how the implementation of the e-voting system in the election of village heads in Pamutih. All stages proceeded smoothly, due to the massive socialization and ability of the committee to create a public trust to the e-voting system, which had implications for the high participation at the time of the vote, and also support from local government. The use of e-voting can guarantee the principles of direct democracy, honest and fair, confidential, accurate and fast. The problems that have appeared during the traditional village head elections can be overcome, such as no more embezzlement and double voters, as well as no errors and fraud in vote counting. Thus, the less human control and technology used in elections will create a better quality of elections, and also the conflict of election results will be decreased.