When seeking
leadership and innovation in the area of e-voting and i-voting technology on a
national scale, it's not in the United States, England or Germany where
inspiration can be found. Instead, a decidedly smaller nation in the Baltic
region of Northern Europe continues to act as a
shining example of how a modern democracy can and should be run.
Estonia's
widespread and enthusiastic adoption of secure, transparent,
and robust Internet-based voting technologies is well documented and widely
applauded. The country continues to move forward with new
and better technologies, always looking to how its democracy can be better
applied for its citizens. But what about the rest of the world?
Perhaps one of
the more compelling developments to come out of Estonia in the last little
while is the e-Residency
project. From the official website, e-Residency “offers to every world
citizen a government-issued digital identity and the opportunity to run a
trusted company online, unleashing the world's entrepreneurial potential.”
The government
startup effectively allows nearly anyone in the world to participate in Estonia
without having to physically relocate to the European country. In effect,
individuals can open Estonian bank accounts, launch Estonian businesses, and
pay Estonian taxes, all via the Internet. The program is quickly growing and
they anticipate that there will
be 10 million e-Residents by the year 2020.
The identity of
the prospective e-Resident is verified at one of the embassies located around
the globe, meaning that he or she will still need to produce a passport and
have his or her fingerprints recorded. The government will also conduct a
background search to verified eligibility before issuing the e-Residency card.
Now, why does
this matter?
The e-Residency
project satisfies the requirements of Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations,
allowing for improved cross-border investments and business operations while
guarding against money laundering, terrorist financing, and other possible
concerns. This provides lenders, crowdfunding providers and alternative finance
platforms with the assurance of securely confirmed identity. What's more, while
the digital signature is used extensively in Estonia, it will become
legally equivalent to a traditional, handwritten signature in all of
Europe's member states by July 1, 2016.
While the
e-Residency program in Estonia is targeted within the contexts of online
business and related operations, the fundamental guiding principles can be
possibly extended to the area of electronic voting and Internet-based voting in
government elections as well. If Estonia can issue an e-Residency card this way
and if digital signatures can carry the weight that they will, these same
technologies can be used to power elections in other countries when adapted to
local conditions.
This allows for
far easier access to the democratic process for citizens who may live in rural
or remote areas. This provides for greater access for expatriates wishing to exercise
their right to franchise from abroad. And it could significantly reduce the
costs of running an election for a government while minimizing errors and
maintaining the integrity of verified voters and ballots.
Challenges
related to Internet voting systems are numerable, to be sure, but this
e-Residency program could prove to be yet another example of how Estonia
continues to solidify its place as an e-voting and i-voting global leader.
