This week, Estonia became the first country in the world to hold an election allowing voters nationwide to cast ballots over the Internet. By Oct. 12, the final day of voting, 9,317 people had successfully casted their vote electronically. Prime Minister Andrus Ansip was one of them.“I decided to vote electronically in order to try the new thing. E-voting gives a good opportunity to plan my schedule better, since I am not in my hometown on the day of election,” said Prime Minister Ansip. “The whole voting process took just a few minutes and it was very simple and comfortable.”
Estonia’s newest leap into the information age did not come easy. President Arnold Ruutel vetoed legislation on the system twice, though he was eventually overruled by the Constitutional Court. The president was primarily concerned with the ability of online voters to change their vote. E-voting’s creators provided for the opportunity to “re-vote” as much as necessary during the pre-election period, after which all previous votes will be deleted (exactly what President Ruutel objected to). A voter who was illegitimately influenced can re-cast the vote when the “dubious influence” is gone. Should the person vote "traditionally" on the election day, the electronically cast ballot will be deleted.
The voting mechanism is fairly simple: Estonian citizens need an ID card, a computer and an ID Card-Reader. The ID Card identifies the voters uniquely, and they can then cast their vote on a secure site. They must finally confirm their choice by entering a PIN. About 60% of Estonian voters have the ID cards, which has been in use since 2002 for online access to bank accounts and tax records. But many ID card users still lack the reading device, which explains the low turnout of online voting.
One percent of registered voters participated online in the elections for mayors and city councils across the country, a result predicted by the project responsibles. During the Worldwide e-Democracy Forum, in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Paris, France), last september, Ülle Madise, member of the e-voting Committee in the Estonian Parliamant said that she expected around 10.000 e-voters, a prediction close to the final result.
Ülle MADISE The interview of Ülle MADISE on audio
Officials hailed the experiment conducted on October 10 to october 12 as a success. Election officials in the country of 1.4 million said they had received no reports of flaws in the online voting system or hacking attempts. The IT solution for casting votes cost about 250,000 euros. In the future, the same software can be used for conducting national polls. The plan is to allow online voting in the next parliamentary elections in 2007.
PoliticsOnline : e-voting in Estonia
Etopiamedia : "e-stonia" conducts fisrt national Internet elections
