Nobody should be able to tamper with the referendum results. The integrity of the voting process and the verifiability of the ballots has to be assured before and during the world vote. Creating a planetary voting infrastructure opens up many new vulnerabilities.

DURING THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE:

Freedom of assembly, movement and expression maximizes the amount of pre-voting participation. Knowledge about the decision making process and the possible consequences has to be encouraged at the earliest stage through an education and media effort that prepares the right conditions. No registration is necessary to participate in the referendum. Anonymity preserves the authenticity of the world vote. The goal of the referendum is to hear the voice of the people, not to catalogue the world's population. There are no voter lists to manipulate. What people vote on is a private choice.

The world vote does not elect any person into office. Campaigns built around the personalities of individual candidates often end up as dirty fights. The referendum simply poses three questions that aim to resolve the biggest problems facing humankind. The societal pressures and possible manipulations that occur regularly in elections for representatives can be drastically reduced in such a scenario.

The international training of the electoral staff needs to address all aspects of preserving the integrity of the ballot. Culturally sensitive translations of voting materials are maintained for every part of the planet. Hardware and software has to be audited and certified during the design and construction phases to prevent flaws and manipulations to become embedded in the hardware, software and procedures.

The world vote takes place in one session over the course of a single day for everybody. From sunrise to sunset, in every time zone on the planet, people can cast their ballots through a variety of means. Nobody over 16 years of age can be turned away from the polls. The voting environment adapts itself to all regions through culturally sensitized procedures. To express your will, you need no special skills.

Traditional Voting: In its simplicity, nothing surpasses tried and true paper methods. Physically marking a paper or cardboard ballot is easy to do and allows the voter to check his or her decisions before casting the vote. The vote itself exists in physical form and can be preserved. Many cost-effective mechanical voting systems such as punch-card, mark-sense and other machine-readable systems are commonly in use. These traditional voting techniques are familiar to many and have a relatively low undervote rate. Physical limitations are usually only encountered during the counting process, especially when mechanical methods to tally the ballots are employed.

Electronic Voting: Modern voting techniques don't always mean safer practices or more accurate results. Direct recording electronic voting machines are just now gaining a foothold in the electoral mainstream and have been successfully employed in a recent elections, most notably in Brazil. Tallying the votes can be done by the machine itself and greatly accelerates the entire process. Electronic systems are subject to hardware manipulation, hacking and an initial unfamiliarity of the voters with this new technique. Stringent monitoring and encryption programs as well as the training of voting assistants addresses these issues. Secure electronic voting systems are especially desirable for areas of high population density that are in need of new voting infrastructure. With all electronic methods, it is extremely important to maintain a clear paper trail. P aper ballots can be scanned electronically or each machine can print out the results along the way.

New Techniques: All innovations have to be considered for use in the voting process. Techniques that range from converting personal computers into voting stations to allowing submissions via the short-wave radio spectrum have to become admissible under well-defined sets of circumstances. The overwhelming goal of the global human referendum is that the maximum amount of people possible can participate. Any technique that enhances the possibilities of 100% inclusion has to be seriously considered, not limited.

All the information that originates from the variety of sources must be treated consistently. The mixture of multiple and diverse systems to collect the votes, in itself makes it more difficult to tamper with the final results. An open door policy and a call for participation in all sectors from the beginning offers a high degree of accountability. Effective monitoring by international observation groups and media outlets, as well as observers appointed inside the referendum itself, allows for multiple inspections processes of the entire structure. Transparent practices cut down the physical danger of vote buying, bloc voting, ballot box stuffing, extortion and coercion. Everybody can in-effect become a monitor.

DURING THE COUNTING PHASE:

Transparency, professionalism, accuracy, secrecy, timeliness, accountability, and equity constitute the fundamental principles of vote counting. Speed and verifiability sometimes conflict with each other. Mechanization reduces the counting time but also allows problems with accuracy to occur. Independently counted totals from multiple, redundant, national, continental and regional counting centers can be compared against each other and analyzed for accuracy.

The entire tabulation process can be conducted openly and in public view. In recent elections in Java, Indonesia up to 80% of the polling stations were located outdoors and there was ample opportunity for observers, party agents and the general public to watch the proceedings. The count across the country took on a festive, carnival-like enthusiasm on the part of the onlookers.

Monitors need to prevent the following irregularities:

- The possibility of altering the votes after they are cast.
- The possibility of eliminating validated votes.
- The possibility of including invalid votes in the final tally.

If the total result can not be given a clean bill of health, the outcome can be contested and a recount must be forced immediately. Maintaining a proper paper trail becomes vital in this case, so that independent sources can verify all the votes.

DURING THE BROADCAST PHASE:

Each time the information switches hands, possibilities of manipulation, interpretation or tampering can occur. Once the answers have been determined, multiple independent broadcast channels need to be employed so that people can learn the results through several paths.

CONTINUING CREDIBILITY:

The referendum is a non-commercial organization. The standard of "one person - one vote" has to be maintained on every level, even for major financial contributors and dedicated collaborators. Anybody with an opinion can add their know-how, time and muscle. The sheer fact that the referendum requires the cooperation of literally everybody on the planet puts the organization into a completely new context of international collaboration and trust.