Extension of the voting period
The Barcelona City Council has decided to extend the deadline for voting on the projects of the participatory budgets, lengthening it until March 19. Initially, the voting was scheduled until March 17, but the technical problems experienced on the Decidim.Barcelona platform have led to this decision.
Technical incidents and solutions implemented
From the beginning of the voting, on Monday, the web presented access difficulties, which was repeated on Tuesday. In order to resolve this situation, the City Council has made technical adjustments to its infrastructure, with the aim of stabilizing the server and improving its performance, so that it can support the traffic of voters.
Face -to -face voting and complaints from entities
In addition to online voting, more than 100 points have been enabled throughout the city to allow citizens to vote in person. However, some organizations have stated worried, saying that technical failures have led to the loss of votes, especially among the older population who had received help to participate.
Reviews of the affected entities
Carles Real, a representative of the La Farga Neighborhood Association, has expressed his frustration, noting that lost votes cannot be recovered. In addition, complaints have been reported on changes in the links of the proposals, which could have affected the accounting of the votes, a statement that the City Council has flatly denied.
Citizen participation despite the difficulties
Despite the mishaps, 4,000 votes were recorded in just two days, which represents almost half of the total participation of the previous year, when 11,000 votes were counted. Citizens can vote for a maximum of 10 of the 789 projects presented, and at the end of the process, the 23 most voted proposals in each district will be selected to advance the next phase.
Looking to the future
With the votes underway and the measures to improve the platform, the City Council hopes that participation will be significant. Once this voting phase is completed, the votes will be announced, as well as the proposals that have gained the most support, in order to inform the citizens of the projects that will advance in the decision process.