What the Estonian e-residency could mean for global e-voting

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. 

The advancing innovations and trends of voting technology

All industries and business sectors should aspire for continuous innovation, ceaselessly moving forward with changes that make for a better product or experience by all. In the case of mobile phones, the rise of the smartphone and mobile apps has completely revolutionized the way that people communicate on the go. Modern cars are packed with an increasing assortment of technology, providing drivers and passengers with more comfort, better safety and improved fuel economy.

In the context of elections, the pace of innovation can sometimes feel slowed by the bureaucracies of government, but this should not thwart the continuing advances in creating a better and more efficient voting process. This should include innovations for the election infrastructure, hardware and software for collecting ballots, and advances in the tabulation and reporting of results.

Traditionally, innovations that impact how the voter casts a ballot tend to create friction as they have direct require legal framework adaptations. As a rule of thumb, the closer the technology is to the voter, the harder it is to implement it. 

 

That is why, some of the innovations being implemented in the industry address problems either before the voter casts a ballot, or after when the vote is being processed. To better illustrate our point, let’s look at three recent elections that employed technology in different stages. 

Voter authentication

Biometric technology can help to protect against election fraud, giving voters greater confidence in the integrity and legitimacy of results. In Brazil, approximately 21 million voters where authenticated biometrically before casting a ballot, thus eliminating the possibility of voter impersonation. Authorities are expecting to extend the use of the biometric devices to the entire electorate by 2017. 

Electronic poll books 

Among the many recommendations made by the Presidential Commission on Election Administration electronic poll books emerged as one source of possible innovation in the field. The report, handed to the President of the US on January 1st, 2014, sees e-poll books as a way for jurisdictions to make voter processing at polling places more accurate and efficient. The report stated “In the national survey of election of­ficials, e-poll books was one of the most frequently identified innovations that respon­dents desired.”

The Onondaga County Board of Elections recently tried a new electronic poll book during the recent midterm elections in the US. Using an electronic pad similar to what it is used to pay with credit cards at grocery stores, polling management got much easier. 

According to Onondaga County Elections Commissioners, Dustin Czarny, and Helen Kiggins Walsh voters at three polling places were asked to sign their names on the electronic pad. Also, elections inspectors typed voters' names into a database, to pull up information.

Promising to end long lines at polling stations, an election technology provider, everyone counts is also promoting their Electronic Polling Book in their website. 

Results processing

Oonce voters have left the precincts, there are still plenty of instances where administrators can use some help from technology. 

Recently, the West Heath Ward by-election of the Rushmoor Borough Council in the United Kingdom, used a digital pen to streamline the transmission of results. The digital pen, adapted to elections by Smartmatic, was employed in two aspects of the West Heath by-election. It was used by the election officials during the official tabulation and reporting of the election results. More specifically, it was used by officials with the ballot box verification form and the election results verification form. The former aggregates the final tally in each box, while the latter records the results for each electoral candidate. In both cases, the ePen was able to digitally capture the important information, allowing election officials to quickly and easily verify and transmit the results. 

Estonia continues to innovate with new I-voting modalities

Source: emol.com

Most people likely would not name Estonia as their first choice of countries that are cutting edge, technologically advanced, but the demographic republic in the Baltic region of Northern Europe is actually one of the most forward thinking, particularly when it comes to the technology implemented in its government agencies and national voting paradigms.

While Estonia still offers a more traditional way to cast a ballot, it also has a long standing history with the adoption of Internet-based voting. It has even gone so far as to open up its “server side” source code to the public. For security reasons, the client side code remains secret and protected, but the server side is open to public scrutiny. And the Estonian population has embraced the I-voting revolution.

In the most recent parliamentary election in October of this year, over 133,000 voters cast their ballots electronically rather than using the more manual method. This represents over 20% of all the ballots cast in the election and what's even more interesting is that voters had the opportunity to vote online using their choice of no fewer than three different modalities, including one that involved mobile phones.

Measures were taken to ensure that all three of the online voting options were as secure as possible, authenticating the ballot while not necessarily connecting it directly to any individual voter. This worked in much the same way as a double-envelope method may be used with a more traditional ballot; the paper ballot is placed in an unmarked “inner” envelope, which is then placed inside of an “outer” envelope with the voter's information. A clerk can verify the outer envelope information, removing the sealed inner envelope to place it into the ballot box. For the purposes of the online ballot, a digital signature and PIN served a similar purpose.

The first of the Internet voting options involved the voter using the government-mandated ID card with its two public key infrastructure (PKI) based digital certificates. With this secure card and a card reader (available nationwide in many stores), the voter inserts the card and enters their PIN codes while on the government e-voting website and downloads and runs the voting application. They can confirm their identity with their first PIN, select their preferred candidate, and confirm the vote with their digital signature by entering the ID card's second PIN. After that, the person receives the confirmation that the vote has been registered on the system.

The second voting option involved the use of an alternative “digital ID card”, also issued by the government and used primarily for online purposes. Just as the first method, the voter navigated to the government e-voting website using the credentials and security afforded by the digital ID card and its corresponding codes.

The third and newest method of I-voting in Estonia involved a mobile phone and a PC computer. The user registered for a mobile ID by providing the government with the SIM card from their phone, along with their government-issued secure ID card. The two were linked and the user was provided with two secure PIN codes via text message. The voter then navigated to the e-voting website on a computer, entered their phone number and first PIN code, and cast the vote. The second PIN was entered on the corresponding mobile app on the phone and the ballot was then authenticated.

Another innovation tested at the October election was a verification system of I-votes, developed to detect with a device (in this opportunity only Android mobile phones or tablets) if the computer you used to vote was infected with any malware that changed the I-vote or blocked the I-voting.

While there are certainly concerns surrounding Internet voting, Estonia's comprehensive system demonstrates how it can be implemented to great success. Other countries and governments around the world may benefit from collaborating with and learning from Estonia's example.