Estonia Plans Voting via Mobile App

Estonian citizens have been able to participate in online voting since 2005. Now, the government plans to enable voting via a mobile app, possibly as early as the European Parliament elections.

Estonia aims to make voting even more easily accessible through digital means. During a press conference on Thursday, the government presented a draft law that would allow voting through a smartphone app. The Estonian Parliament will now consider the draft.

According to Tiit Riisalo, the Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and IT, he hopes that the new voting method will be available for the European Parliament elections in early June 2024. He stated that apps will be developed for all major mobile operating systems, and the Election Commission will monitor them. Riisalo said, “This ensures technological neutrality, meaning that only technologies that are widely used and secure at the time will be employed.”

Criticism of Estonian “E-Voting”

The planned mobile voting system is expected to be as secure as the “E-Voting” option available in Estonian browsers since 2005 or voting with a paper ballot.

However, not all digital experts worldwide agree with Estonia’s view that online voting is genuinely secure against election manipulation and data leaks. In the recent parliamentary elections in March, more than half of the votes were cast digitally.