Serang Regency DPMD Prepares E-Voting Trial for 2027 Village Head Elections

The Serang Regency Community and Village Empowerment Office (DPMD) is preparing for the 2027 simultaneous Village Head Election (Pilkades) by trialling an electronic voting (e-voting) system in one to two villages. Head of the Serang Regency DPMD, Rudi Suhartono, stated on Wednesday that the simultaneous Pilkades will involve 191 villages with a total budget allocation of Rp30.3 billion. The e-voting trial is planned for one or two villages that are ready in terms of infrastructure. “We will select villages with good signal, at least one or two in urban areas where the community is already familiar with technology,” Rudi said. According to him, the implementation of e-voting aims to increase transparency while guaranteeing the principles of direct, general, free, and secret ballots. Through this digital system, the potential for fraud is expected to be minimised because voting results are immediately locked into the system. Rudi noted that although device rental costs are relatively high, e-voting is more efficient and facilitates implementation compared to conventional methods using paper ballots. To reduce procurement costs, the Serang Regency Government plans to rent devices from providers that have certification and recommendations from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the Ministry of Home Affairs. He added that similar systems have been implemented in several regions such as Bekasi, Karawang, and Indramayu. Rudi explained that voters must still come to the polling station (TPS) and will not vote via mobile phone. “They still come to the TPS and use a special device resembling an ATM machine. Voters will be given a chip card to insert into the voting machine,” he said. The implementation of e-voting is estimated to require an additional budget of around Rp100 million to Rp200 million. However, Rudi stated that this requirement can still be optimised from the total budget ceiling of Rp30.3 billion that has been prepared. As an initial step, the Serang Regency DPMD will conduct a presentation and simulation for the Serang Regency Government and the Serang Regency Regional People’s Representative Council (DPRD). After obtaining agreement, socialisation will be carried out in stages to the community to build trust in the system.