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Internet voting in Estonia. Epp Maaten Councillor 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?.
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Internet voting in Estonia Epp Maaten Councillor 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
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 IDcard Project
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
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 coercionre-voting is • allowedduring advance voting period
To vote via Internet voter needs: an Estonian ID card with valid certificates and PINcodes 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 *****
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% 30-5962.4% 60 - 9.9% Statistics
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
Internet voting frequency duringvoting period Estonian National Electoral Committee https://www.vvk.ee
Subjective reasons for not using e-voting 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 A.H. Trechsel, F. Breuer, E-Voting in the 2005 local elections in Estonia, http://www.ega.ee/public/Trechsel_17.02.2006.ppt
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 Conclusions of the survey
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 votingbrings people closer to the information society. Existence of a reliable and secure authentication system is vital. Internet voting is there to stay. Lessons learnt
Further information Homepage of Estonian National Electoral Committee: http://www.vvk.ee/engindex.html