Internet voting in Estonia
Epp MaatenCouncillor of the Elections Department
Chancellery of the Riigikogu
e-Estonia
• Population: 1.35 Mio
• Everyday Internet usage (15-74 years old): 54%
• Households with a computer: 40%
– 81% home computers connected to the Internet
Why Internet-voting?
• The use of digital channels is steadily widening.
• eID card, that most of voters possess, enables secure authentication
• Political agreement to introduce Internet voting: - In 2002 the legislative basis for Internet voting was created.
• To increase turnout
ID card Project
• Started in 1997
• Act on personal identification documents: Feb 1999
• Digital Signature Act: March 2000
• First card issued: Jan 2002
• 900 000 cards issued: Feb 2006 – eID card roll-out 65% of population
Voters’ authentication withID-cards
• Compulsory for all residents
• Contains:– Personal data file– Certificate for authentication – Certificate for digital signature
First Internet voting
• In October 2005 Estonia had the
first pan-national Internet Voting with binding results
• ~ 80% of voters had a chance to vote via Internet
• ~2% of voters used that possibility
System architecture
Envelope scheme
Electronic re-vote and the priority of traditional voting
Repeated e-voting is allowed - only last e-ballot is counted
Manual re-voting is allowed
In order to avoid voting under coercion re-voting is allowed during advance voting period
To vote via Internet voter needs:
• an Estonian ID card with valid certificates and PIN codes
Computer used for voting must have:
• a smart card reader • a driver for ID card (free to download from page www.id.ee/installer)
I Website for voting
www.valimised.ee
www.valimised.ee
II Identification Put your card into card reader
Insert PIN 1
****
III Ballot completion Choose a candidate
IV Authentication Confirm your choice
Insert PIN 2
*****
V Confirmation
Statistics
E-votes counted 9287
E-vote turnout (e-votes/votes) 1,85 %
Advance votes among all votes 24 %
E-votes among advance votes 8 %
E-voters by gender: women 45.7%
men 54.3%
E-voters by age: -29 27.7%
30-59 62.4%
60 - 9.9%
Where Internet voters cast their ballots
A.H. Trechsel, F. Breuer, E-Voting in the 2005 local elections in Estonia,
http://www.ega.ee/public/Trechsel_17.02.2006.ppt
54,5
36,6
3,6 3,2 1,9
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Home Workplace /educationalinstitution
Elsewhere(cafe, friend's
place)
Public Internetaccess point
Bank
% o
f re
sp
on
de
nts
E-voting frequency during voting period
0
100
200
300
400
500
9h/O
ct10
11h/O
ct10
13h/O
ct10
15h/O
ct10
17h/O
ct10
19h/O
ct10
21h/O
ct10
23h/O
ct10
1h/O
ct11
3h/O
ct11
5h/O
ct11
7h/O
ct11
9h/O
ct11
11h/O
ct11
13h/O
ct11
15h/O
ct11
17h/O
ct11
19h/O
ct11
21h/O
ct11
23h/O
ct11
1h/O
ct12
3h/O
ct12
5h/O
ct12
7h/O
ct12
9h/O
ct12
11h/O
ct12
13h/O
ct12
15h/O
ct12
17h/O
ct12
19h/O
ct12
nu
mb
er o
f e-
vote
sInternet voting frequency during voting period
Estonian National Electoral Committee https://www.vvk.ee
Subjective reasons for not using e-voting
67,1
21,4
4,2
3,2
2,2
1,9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
technological complexity,no access
current system suff icient,habits, simplicity
loss of traditions, humancontacts needed
lack of trust, doubts
other
absurd, useless,impossible
% o
f re
sp
on
de
nts
A.H. Trechsel, F. Breuer, E-Voting in the 2005 local elections in Estonia,
http://www.ega.ee/public/Trechsel_17.02.2006.ppt
Subjective reasons for choosing e-voting
75,2
18,8
5,1
0,3
0,3
0,3
0 20 40 60 80
convenience:spped/practical/simple
interest, w ish to try outthe new method
better accessibility for allpeople
innovation; modernity
costs: less expensive,saving of time
security can beguaranteed
% o
f re
spo
nd
ents
A.H. Trechsel, F. Breuer, E-Voting in the 2005 local elections in Estonia,
http://www.ega.ee/public/Trechsel_17.02.2006.ppt
Conclusions of the survey• Impacts on choosing e-voting over voting at
polling station:– Trust in e-voting – Sufficient computer knowledge
• Age, gender, income, education do not have a significant impact
• E-voting is politically neutral
Lessons learnt• Internet voting is just an additional way of voting.
It widens accessibility.
• It takes time to change voters’ habits and attitudes and to increase the turnout.
• Internet voting brings people closer to the information society.
• Existence of a reliable and secure authentication system is vital.
• Internet voting is there to stay.
Further information
Homepage of Estonian National Electoral Committee:
http://www.vvk.ee/engindex.html
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