(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Estonia is the first nation in the world that will allow voting via the Internet during its elections for the Parliament (Riigikogu). The voting will take place on 4 March 2007, but the electronic vote will be cast from 26 February at 9 AM until 28 February 8 PM.

The system was tested first in the limited local elections in October 2005, when almost 10 000 people voted via the Internet. The number of Internet voters for these elections is estimated to increase to 20-40 000 voters, out of the 940 000.

The system for Internet voting is based on the mandatory state-issued ID card, that includes an electronic chip. The ID card can be used by introducing it in a reader attached to a computer and using 2 passwords. The

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Last week there were three e-voting events hosted in London by EDRI members, the Open Rights Group (ORG) and the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR).

On 6 February guests saw a screening of the documentary film "Hacking Democracy" which reveals in detail the failings of e-voting and e-counting systems in the United States.

After the film a lively panel, chaired by ORG's e-voting co-ordinator Jason Kitcat, discussed the film's implications particularly given e-voting pilots planned in the UK for May 2007. On the panel were John Pugh MP (Liberal Democrat); Russell Michaels, one of the film's co-directors and Dr Rebecca Mercuri, an e-voting expert from the United States.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The voting computers used to cast 90% of the votes in Netherlands were cracked by a Dutch Group called "Wij vertrouwen stemcomputers niet" (We do not trust voting computers).

In a live public show on 4 October 2006 on the Dutch television channel Nederland 1, the group proved how the control program of such a voting machine - called Nedap/Groenendaal ES3B - could be replaced by exchanging 2 EPROMS on the board. The entire demonstration lasted less than 5 minutes.

The demonstration was followed by a public report released on 6 October that explains how the program works, how the software was created and how they can gain complete control over the election results. It is almost impossible

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

France has tried to implement an Internet voting system that should have allowed French citizens living abroad to vote during the presidential elections in 2007. However, the system has been criticized and has not been proven to be reliable.

The French living abroad are represented by the AFE (Assemblée des Français de l'Étranger), a consultative body which elects 12 senators (out of 331). Half of the AFE was replaced in June 2006. Votes could be cast either in embassies (in a traditional way), by regular mail or Internet.

In 2003, Internet voting had been used for the first time and it was then restricted to voters living in the USA. This time, all the 525 000 voters

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

On 4 July 2006, the Commission on Electronic Voting released its second report on the secrecy and accuracy of the e-voting system purchased by the Irish Government.

The summary remarks at the beginning of the 200 page report say: "The Commission concludes that it can recommend the voting and counting equipment of the chosen system for use at elections in Ireland, subject to further work it has also recommended, but that it is unable to recommend the election management software for such use."

The "further work" referred to appears from the phrasing of the rest of the introduction to be relatively minor, but a detailed reading of the report reveals the extent of the changes required.

During the recent Italian political elections an experimental e-voting system for counting votes - not for expressing the vote itself - has been used in several polling places. The system has been used in parallel with normal, manual counting operations; but it was quite clear that the goal of such experiments was to progressively switch all counting operations to using automated, computer-based systems.

Emmanuele Somma, fellow of Free Software Foundation Europe, participated as an official observer to the counting operations in one polling station (section 224 in the city of Rome) and reported on his experience, which casts an alarming shadow over the reliability of the system used and of the "human element" involved.

According to Somma, the computer operator was not able to produce the

The UK government has announced it will drop pilots with Internet and telephone votes, scheduled for the local elections in May 2006. Answering a parliamentary question, Harriet Harman, the minister responsible, said government no longer looked for pilot requests from local authorities. She explained the time was not yet right for e-voting. This is a remarkable change in position. Labour always was very enthusiastic about remote (mobile phone or Internet) voting, and preferred it above electronic voting machines, as used in for example Belgium and the Netherlands. The decision to postphone the pilots was welcomed by the Conservative shadow-minister. He told the newspaper The Independent he thought the remote voting plans were reckless: "This lack of an adequate audit trail is extremely worrying in the light of the risk of fraud already exposed with all-postal voting."

European Digital Rights has opened a new open mailinglist on e-voting. Anybody interested in contributing knowledge on this matter is kindly invited to subscribe and share information with experts from all over Europe. The discussion is focussed on developments in Europe, and can be both political as well as technical.

Subscribe to the EDRI-voting mailinglist
http://mailman.edri.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/edri-voting