Internet Voting in Estonia Free & Fair Elections

Ülle Madise

Member of the

National Electoral Committee

contents

some general information

the principle of secrecy (anonymity and privacy)

the principle of voter´s equality

are we redefining democracy?

questions

general information

2005: the first-ever countrywide remote Internet voting with binding results at the local government elections

9317 e-voters; 9681 e-votes given~ 2 % of all actual voters

~ 1 % of all persons entitled to vote

no complaints to the NEC or courts, no problems with funktioning of the technical system

positive result of IT audit

general information II

2007: the first-ever countrywide remote Internet voting with binding results at the parliamentary elections

30 275 e-votes given!!! (9 681 in 2005)

e-votes decryption on March 4th

>1 000 000 ID cards issued with remote identification & digital signature funktion

ID card = primary identification document:

principle of secrecy

consists of 2 sub-principlesanonymityvoting in privacy

the aim to guarantee the

freedom of voters choice

sub-principle of anonymity

is guaranteed by e-voting as well as it is possible by postal voting (voting by old-fashioned mail):

anonymity II

•the vote is encrypted (“inner envelope”)

•the encrypted vote is linked with the personal data (digital signature as “outer envelope”)

•decryption is only possible after removing “outer envelopes”

sub-principle of privacy

cannot be guaranteed by e-voting or voting by mail, therefore other methods to guarantee free expression of the voters real will are required• the right to change the e-vote:– for unrestrikted number of times– during advance poll days:

+enough time to change information btw NEC and polling stations: on sunday advance voters (incl e-voters will not receive any ballot paper!)

+no advantage for e-voters in comparison to other advance voters• paper-ballot priority

sub-principle of privacy II

• the right to change the e-vote with another e-vote:

– for unrestrikted number of times– during advance poll days:

+enough time to change information btw NEC and polling stations: on sunday advance voters (incl e-voters will not receive any ballot paper!)

+no advantage for e-voters in comparison to other advance voters

•... or paper ballot

sub-principle of privacy III

the last e-vote or paper ballot is counted• paper-ballot priority!

equality

per one voter only one vote is counted!

it is impossible to guarantee strictly equal voting conditions; no one can choose btw all voting methods

e-voter´s right to change the e-vote is justified by the need to guarantee the principle of freedom

rethinking of voting procedure and principles

•election day as national red-letter day?–advance poll days 2007: 19,8% of all persons entitled to vote did vote in the advance poll days •going to the polling station as a ritual–voting by mail from abroad–voting at home, hospital, prison etc•voting in privacy as a duty supervised by the government–privacy as a sub-principle of freedom of electoral choice is not an aim in itself