1

The report on the scope of e-voting in elections

Marianne Riise, senior adviserStrasbourg 23 and 24 November 2006

The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development2

Report

Considers

democratic

legal

technical

administrative

aspects on e-voting

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development3

The committee concludes:• Main purpose of introducing e-voting:

– increase availability– reduce costs– ensure faster and more accurate counting

• To reach this objective: Make e-voting available in uncontrolled environments

• Absolute requirements– measures to secure secrecy– strict security– maintain voters confidence

Current technology cannot guarantee absolute security E-voting not recommended on a large-scale basis Recommends systematic pilot studies and evaluations

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development4

Assessments (1)

• Central dimension: Voting at polling stations with supervision (controlled) vs. voting outside the polling station (uncontrolled)

• E-voting in controlled environments– not a problem– expensive– more difficult to manage– not recommended as a permanent

solution

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development5

Assessments (2)

• E-voting in uncontrolled environments– definitely a problem as we see it– secrecy:

– “in a secluded room and unobserved”– security

– technically not possible to ensure 100%– certain measures necessary– inexpensive– recommended

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development6

Measures required

• Introducing a cancellation right• Only e-voting in advance voting phase• E-voting only as a supplement• Satisfy the standards of the EC

Recommendation on e-voting

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development7

Annulmentmessage

Data network

Data network

Ballot receiving

server

Ballotstorage server

Firewall

Voters’ register

Ballot forms

Ballot inspection

serverSMS-

network

SMS-network

Voters’ register

Voting client

Ballot annulment

serverBallots

Kryptert stemmeKryptert

stemmetert stemmeannulment

Election official

Voting period is terminated

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development8

How to introduce e-voting?

• Step-by-step process• We should hurry slowly• Pilots should start

– in controlled environment– in binding and non-binding

elections– in uncontrolled environments

using controlled computers (non-binding elections)

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development9

Pilot plans

Environ-ments

Type of election

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Controlled Consultative

Binding

Uncontrolled (controlled computer)

Consultative

Binding

Controlled (Uncontrolled computer)

Consultative

Binding

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development10

Plans: September 2007

• Pilots in school elections– Voting over the Internet for some

students• Also e-voting in controlled

environments at school elections (as in 2003 and 2005)

Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development11

Contact: marianne.riise@krd.dep.no

phone +047 22 24 72 72

The report is available in English:

www.e-valg.dep.no