internet voting in estonia free & fair elections (madise)
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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