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