Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

1. Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes Presentation at ESF TED WorkshopHelsinki, May, 20th 2004 Robert Krimmer University of Linz,Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration

2. How come Electronic Voting has become such a big issue, when it‘s just about counting 1 and 1? Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

3. Overview • What is E-Voting? • Why is E-Voting interesting? • How to preserve anonymity? • The European experience • Standardization efforts Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

4. E-Governance E-Government E-Democracy E-Participation E-Voting E-Administration Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

5. + IT Support Quick Democracy Quick Democracy (Participation) Strong Democracy - + (Feed Back & Consultation) Citizen Participation Thin Democracy Thin Democracy (Information) - Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

6. Instruments of E-Democracy Political Process (iii) Decision (ii) Formation of an opinion (i) Information acquisition E-Voting E-Mail Chat Web-sites 0 Infor- Uni- Bi- Trans- mation directional actional Technical Complexity Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

7. What is E-Voting? Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

8. Why is E-Voting interesting? • Elections are a major administrative work  require trained persons • Election procedures are complex counting may take multiple days • More and more citizens are on the move need for flexible registration schemes Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

9. Basic Issues Uneqivocal identification of the Voter With absolute anonymity at the point of casting the vote and No possibility for the election administration to change votes or to break the anonymity. 1 2 3 Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

10. Solutions • Preserving anonymity by hiding the vote: Homomorphism Ballot Sheet(yes/no): Voter Server 10110100 00111000 .... sum yes/no 10110100 Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

11. Solutions • Preserving anonymity by hiding the voter: TAN Receives TAN by mail Voter Server Enter TAN & Ballot sheet Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

12. Identification &Vote casting Election Day Solutions • Preserving anonymity by hiding the voter: Blind signature • One-step procedures • Two-step procedures Voting token (1) Identification (2) Vote casting x days beforehand Election Day Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

13. European Experience • Switzerland – three pilots (referenda) • Germany – pilots with public „non-political“ elections • United Kingdom – large-scale pilots in 2002/03, none in 2004 • France – CSFE, professional bodies etc. • Spain – three tests (one from abroad) Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

14. European Experience • Ireland – frozen/postponed • Netherlands – EP elections, from abroad • Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic – drafts • Estonia – legally binding e-voting for regional elections • Austria: • two tests, one road-map: private initiatives • Min/Int working group on e-voting Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

15. Council of EuropeStandardization efforts • started end of 2002 • 48 member countries • aims: Council of Ministers Recommendation legal, operational and technical standards • more difficult than initially expected • but: close co-operation / mutual understanding between legal and technology experts Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

16. Council of EuropeStandardization efforts • minimum standards for legislation and product requirements • for member states and third parties (industry) • broad and clear definitions • focus on e-voting specificities • no recommendation on usefulness / introduction Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

17. Resume • No unique trend towards electronic voting machines or electronic voting via the Internet. • Many experiments on local/institutional level • Only few large-scale tests (UK, NL) • Countries with frozen projects (B) • Academic work with tests (D, A) • CoE standardization efforts will drive development Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes

18. Contact • Robert Krimmer • University of Linz • Institute for Informatics in Business and Government • Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration • Institute for Information Processing, Information Economics and Process Management • e-Mail: robert@krimmer.at Citizen participation using electronic voting for decision making processes