The algorithm as the interface between the law and the code: the case of the Italian election of a regional parliament

We discuss the role of the epistemic difference between the algorithm and the software in the field of computational law, both in general and in a concrete case study. We report about a research and experimentation conducted in partnership with public administration during the electoral process that in November 2025 renovated the members of the regional parliament of one of the largest Italian regions. The partnership included an analysis of the text of the election law under the perspective of algorithmic thinking and the implementation of a software to be used to get precise early insights on the election outcomes. We put forward the concept of algorithmic normativity, illustrating how the legal language can productively interoperate with the digital language through the abstraction level distinctive of the algorithm. In particular, we show how the electoral algorithm acts as a boundary object that opens up a space for dialogue where legal advisors, administrative agents and ICT experts collaborate for addressing interpretation gaps and administrative issues, relying on this artefact as a shared comprehension of the electoral procedure. By considering the complexity of coordinating the different public institutions involved in the electoral process, we highlight the intrinsic non-neutral nature of the software, that cannot be thought of in isolation from the process in which it is inserted. We then hint at potentialities of computational law in electoral systems, remarking that a quality digital transformation is first of all a matter of transforming socio-technical processes made of a mix of people and tools.