Online voting for pharma must adapt to organizations that may bring together employees, representatives, committees, and other stakeholders across different locations and schedules.
The challenge is not simply allowing someone to vote from their computer or phone. It is necessary to determine who can participate, how they are authenticated, how duplicate voting is prevented, and how the confidentiality of the election is protected.
In addition, the same company may need different types of processes: employee representative elections, trade union votes, internal committee decisions, assemblies, or consultations aimed at specific groups.
The technology must be able to adapt to these differences.
From the electoral register to the result: online voting in pharma
Every electoral process involving online voting for pharma begins before voting takes place.The electoral register, meaning the list of people entitled to participate, must be correctly defined and, when necessary, segmented by location, category, or type of voter.
The rules must then be configured: candidates, voting options, quorum, majorities, or weighted voting. Not every election requires the same logic.
Once voting opens, the system must control access and ensure that each voter can exercise their right according to the established rules. Finally, the count must produce a result that can be documented and verified.
In online voting for pharma, these four elements are closely connected: electoral register, authentication, vote, and counting.
Security and ballot secrecy in electronic online voting in pharma
Security is particularly important when a vote contains personal information while also needing to preserve ballot secrecy.
The General Data Protection Regulation establishes principles such as data minimization and requires security measures appropriate to the risk, including safeguards for confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
In a secret election, identifying the voter and knowing their vote are two different operations. The system must be able to verify that someone is authorized to participate without creating a link between their identity and their preference.
In this context, a professional online voting platform like Eligo anonymizes and encrypts the voter’s preference directly on the voter’s device. The system also incorporates mechanisms designed to prevent the link between the voter and their vote from being reconstructed later.
Preventing duplicate voting
Authentication must address another basic issue: ensuring that each voter can vote only once.
Specialized online voting solutions can use individual credentials, unique links, one-time codes, corporate identification systems, or multifactor authentication. Eligo, for example, supports different access methods, including SSO, QR codes, direct links, and credential-based authentication.
A distributed locking mechanism also helps prevent the same credentials from being used simultaneously across different sessions or locations, adding another layer of protection against duplicate voting.
Privacy, integrity, and traceability in online voting for pharma
Online voting for pharma must also properly manage the data associated with the process:
- Electoral register: determines who is eligible to vote and ensures that only authorized participants can access the process.
- Administrative records: make it possible to control and document specific operations carried out during the voting process.
- Voting preferences: when the vote is secret, voting choices must remain separate from the voter’s identity.
- Traceability: provides evidence of operations performed during the process without turning those records into a means of identifying individual voting preferences.
- Access controls and audit logs: role-based access controls and audit logs help monitor activity and maintain a documented record of operations performed during the voting process.
- Report validation: digital signatures and timestamps can be used to validate reports and provide evidence of their integrity.
- Data integrity: this approach is also consistent with practices in the pharmaceutical sector. The European Medicines Agency considers data integrity a fundamental element of pharmaceutical quality systems and states that it should be managed throughout the information lifecycle.
Multinational online voting for pharma and applicable legislation
When a pharmaceutical company operates in different countries, online voting for pharma does not necessarily have to follow identical electoral rules.
Directive (EU) 2025/2450, which amends the rules on European Works Councils, establishes that the election and appointment of employee representatives are governed by national legislation and practices. Therefore, an election covering several countries must consider the applicable rules in each jurisdiction before establishing a common procedure.
This affects the design of the electoral register, participation rights, and election conditions, but it does not necessarily mean that every country needs a different platform.
A real-world example online voting for pharma: Angelini Pharma
Angelini Pharma is an international pharmaceutical company that needed to manage its trade union representative elections. The process had traditionally been carried out using paper ballots sent by registered mail, which involved significant human resources and administrative costs.
The company decided to digitize the process using Eligo eVoting. The election was fully digitized, physical ballot distribution was eliminated, and participation exceeded 70%. The system also enabled automated counting and faster communication of the results.
The case illustrates a concrete application of technology in the pharmaceutical sector: a workplace election where digitalization affects both participation and the administrative management of the process.
If you are considering digitizing an election, assembly, or internal vote, you can try Eligo for free and explore its basic features without a credit card or automatic renewal. If your process has specific participation, security, or configuration requirements, you can also contact the Eligo team to discuss your case and assess the most suitable solution.
5 FAQs about online voting for pharma
Can online voting for pharma use the same electoral register in all Member States?
Not necessarily. The election and appointment of representatives may be subject to different national legislation and practices. In a multinational election, the electoral register and participation conditions should be reviewed according to the relevant legal framework.
Does a European Works Council replace local voting?
No. European Works Councils have information and consultation functions concerning transnational matters. A local representative election is a separate process, with its own electoral register, rules, and responsibilities.
Can votes be hosted outside the European Economic Area?
It may be possible, but the applicable requirements for international data transfers and the safeguards required under data protection legislation must be assessed.
Should the ballot be available in several languages for online voting for pharma?
When people from different countries or linguistic communities participate, providing instructions and ballots in the relevant languages can facilitate effective participation. The configuration should be adapted to the specific process.
How long should the electoral register be retained after online voting for pharma?
There is no single retention period for every process. Data should be retained for as long as necessary to fulfil the relevant purpose and applicable legal obligations, including, where appropriate, audits or challenges.