Estonian Parliament has approved a law making Estonia the first country to allow voting by mobile phone. Lawmakers approved a measure, last December 11, allowing citizens to vote by mobile phone in the next parliamentary elections in 2011. Estonians were allowed to cast Internet ballots in last year's parliamentary vote.
Estonia has been at the forefront of electronic voting for a number of years. In 2005 it started using a national ID card for authenticating voters and giving the go-ahead for using mobile phones is a continuation of that, according to Silver Meikar, a member of the Estonian Parliament and a longtime proponent of e-democracy.
The mobile-voting system, which has already been tested, requires that voters obtain free, authorized chips for their phones. Eesti Mobiil Telefon (EMT) is the only operator currently providing the special SIM cards containing digital certificates for voting authentication to their customers, but the other mobile operators are working on their own programs, according to Priit Vinkel, who works as an adviser for the Estonian National Electoral committee.
Estonian officials said the Internet voting
system in 2007 proved secure despite worries about hacker attacks,
identity fraud and vote
More information :
