Estonia to allow citizens to vote via cellphone by 2011
By Darren Murph 
posted Dec 13th 2008 2:18AM
posted Dec 13th 2008 2:18AM
Brutal honesty here: on election day this past November, the entire Engadget staff (well, those of us with US passports) collectively agreed that casting our vote via SMS or some other incredibly simple method would be infinitely more awesome than trudging out in the streets and waiting in hour-long lines. Clearly, some higher-ups in Estonia are on board with that concept, as its Parliament has approved a law that will likely make it the first nation on Planet Earth to give citizens the right to vote by phone in something that matters (American Idol notwithstanding). 'Course, those who choose to take advantage must first obtain a free authorization chip for their handset, which sort of kills the whole "not having to leave your house" aspect of all this. Ah well, at least we're moving in the right direction.
I can sense the spamming!
"Sir... There's a problem. We received 97,729,361 votes... and we only have a population of 1,315,912."
That isn't spamming, ... that's Chicago.
Thank you me & Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be providing entertainment all weekend.
I know, screw waiting in lines. Does this look like Russia? Then again, the lines in Russia are for bread and not democracy (hehe)
Were you born 60 years ago or something?
Cold War jokes are so old, making them is itself a joke.
Erb
all you gotta do is have a competent voter registration system.
The way I see it, to vote by cellphone, you should have 3 codes.
#1 Your SS or identification number
#2 a number mailed to you by voter registrar
#3 your own personal pin number.
You might be able to fake two of these but all three? Unlikely.
Alot of people don't understand the voting process, and I noticed when Obama was running, they tried to make it took like ACORN was helping him get fake votes. No...what really happened was people on the streets who were being paid to find and register voters were making up fake names just to get their check. Those fake names still had to go through the registration process before being validated. Those fake names would in actuality, never make it to the voting booth.
I want to see cellular voting because I want to increase participation in the election process. The way I see it, if 90% of all Iraqi's could brave I.E.D's and militias to go vote, More than 185 million out of 300 million Americans should be able to do so to.
I can get Pizza Hut delivered to my house in under 30 minutes with a 4 digit SMS. Why can't I vote like that? :(
eeehhhhh..... That wouldn't fly over here.
Why not? Where's 'over here'? Why do I care about some randomly vague comment? Ahhhh!! I'm going to bed now. G'night.
...that's definitely not going to end well. It sounds like a good idea, but that's just going to end in a riot.
Yes clearly that is a bad idea.
On a more cheery note, hopefully they'll have their RAZRs handy when rioting ensues. It protects one from bullets.
...if the system's called VOTR or something Motorola-esquely vowel-deficient, you can be sure it's a conspiracy.
I used to have a RAZR but now I have an iPhone 3G :/
exactly..
Do you have to get a new authorization chip every election? Because if not then this is something I would consider doing on my planned "one last trip outside" before the "not having to leave your house" plan begins for real.
No, you don't have to get a new authorization chip for every election. In fact, you'll just have to get a new SIM-card, that supports it.
Basically it has to be a SIM that connects to the person's digital ID. At the moment there is already such a thing provided by one carrier (called Mobile ID) but I dont know if the principle will be the same. For now I can use it to log into bank, citizen's e-sevices (http://www.eesti.ee/eng/), car registry, tax office etc.
Pretty sure this isn't a first.
now they can yell "FIRST!!!"
-They aren't first.
-They can yell "first"!
Nolimitanggere, surely your comment was the next logical step.
Hey thats my phone! It is not gonna work here....
ESS-TOE-KNEE-AHHH?
...wtf was there a need for that?
HOOKED ON PHONICS much?
(Also, don't take this personally. I see being up at this hour makes me an internet bitch. Mah' bad.)
i get a new cellphone around every election cycle...
So im going to have to constantly go get my phone checked...
I prefer online voting.. that can be pretty secure..
As cool as this idea is in theory, introducing electronics to elections should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
I live in Canada and every polling station is standardized and every ballot is cast on paper with a circle filled in via pencil. Every ballot is hand-counted (I've participated in this), with the counting supervised by scrutineers from parties in order to reduce the chance of fraud.
Meanwhile, in America there are constantly reports coming out about the ineffectiveness and susceptibility of voting machines. Keep it simple.
There has got to be at least a dozen Canada jokes in there, but then the US being one BIG joke just kinda makes them less funny.
Nah, not going to stop me.
SCENE: Canadian polling place
ENTER 40 something bearded man wearing denim jeans, cutoff denim shirt, denim vest.
APPROACH Other 40 something bearded man, denim jeans, flannel top.
RON: "Hey Earl, you hear about this new electronic votin'?"
EARL: "Yuppers Ron, lookin forward to seein the fancy new thingamajig."
RON ENTERS VOTING BOOTH. RETURNS IMMEDIATELY. ENTERS NEXT BOOTH. AGAIN RETURNS, ENTERS FINAL BOOTH. RETURNS.
RON: "Well Earl, looks like we'll have to go to a different polling place. All the machines already been voted on"
EARL ENTERS BOOTH, RETURNS
EARL: "Darnitall, shoulda been here earlier."
REVEAL VOTING MACHINE, TWO NAMES ON TICKET, ONE CIRCLE FILLED IN BY #2 PENCIL
spartacus i can safely assume that you have never ever been to canada, and even if you have, americans are the last people who should be making redneck jokes about other countries
Uncontrol, you raise a very important point: what, exactly, is the difference between a redneck and lumberjack? When I read that, I thought lumberjack, but I can certainly see the redneck portrayal in there, too.
Also, Spartacus, that was wholly unfunny. You've shamed our country. Please hand over your internet.
(Spartacus, I'm just bitchin' around here; don't take this personally....but I do require your internet. I understand completely if you're unable to respond.)
lumberjack cuts down trees
redneck's on welfare and more inbred
Electronic voting isn't a bad thing - it's just done by contractors who can't build a decent system. I mean, my card details are stored by Amazon pretty well, so it can't be impossible to get electronic voting right.
Hand counting is unduly long and error-prone. Yes, it's scrutinized, but there may still be errors. An electronic system could tally votes instantly and if done as well as Amazon or eBay, wouldn't introduce errors or be prone to hacking.
Just comission Microsoft, Apple, IBM or HP to do it. Not some bedroom startup. Experience is just as important as price. In fact, if your little startup makes a bunch of machines that can be hacked by a monkey, experience is the most important factor.
"Just comission Microsoft, Apple, IBM or HP to do it. Not some bedroom startup"
You must be kidding me or working in these related companies. I sure hope blog comments are not taken seriously. Although using the Bedrooms to make love and human startups is fun.
Lumberjacks sleep all night and work all day.
OK I see how it is....
.....I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND GUY!!!!!!!
(fuck canada)
Oh hell, now I'm upset I've upset Canadians everywhere. It's not a redneck joke anymore than a blond joke is a redneck joke. You can be tech-illiterate and stupid and not a redneck. But then you're Canadian... I wouldn't expect you to know that. ;)
For the record I've been to Canada a couple dozen times. Montreal and Vancouver are both awesome, blah blah blah... the thing about jokes is they work better with negative stereotypes. A joke that starts with 2 cool Canadians standing around isn't going to end up funny. Apparently neither were the two stereotypical Canadians, but at least they had potential.
Send Message:
Obama/Biden
Autocorrect:
McCain/Palin
Now sending.
Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
/possible transcript for a crappy movie
It could change the world.
WTF type of autocorrect is that?
It's...it's...it's....a C O N S P I R A C Y.
*dramatic music*
And I, for one, welcome the Obama/Biden v. McCain/Palin election runoff in ESTONIA.
Talking about the recent election was supposed to tip you off to the fact that I was talking about it being implemented in the U.S. Apparently I wasn't clear enough for you, so I'll give it another shot:
THIS FILM TAKES PLACE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES.
Happy now?
I'm not, now that I know Obama's planning to run in Estonia.
Probably moving there for tax reasons. Heh, that'd be ironic.
Oh yeah? Well... Oh... I'm too tired for this... Yeah! Go ________!!
If they were AT&T handsets I wouldn't doubt that would happen.
@thedesolate1
No offense, but referring to all AT&T handsets is unacceptable generalization.
@who
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4116'
considering they were already giving the guy free service what's a little phone vote rigging gonna hurt?
As an Estonian I can assure you that this system has proven itself already. We had online elections some years ago and no errors occured during it what so ever. Then we had to use our ID-cards (the main identification document in Estonia) which were connected to an USB reader and the voting process was ridiculously simple. The system bases on secure certificates which must be hard to crack. I honestly don't know since as long as it works, i don't care. This new mobile system just puts the certificates on a SIM card which makes it super easy for ex. people who live on the countryside and cannot or are not willing to get to a voting-station. And if anyone is concerned about his privacy then rest assured - a vote cast at a voting station Will override all mobile votes (yes, you can vote several times if you choose to change your mind). If you would like to know more about our so called "E-Country" systems then head to http://www.id.ee/?lang=en
You know, it's easy to innovate if the population is so little.
I am waiting for iEye to pop up and say how iPhone is going to make this thing really awsome and how voting using other phones sucks...
This is the same country that got screwed up by those cyber attacks back in 2007? Sounds like a great idea...
But in seriousness, I would love to see a much more simple method of voting implemented in our country. Especially for those of us that live overseas.
Great way to enable votes to be sold. What happened to votes being secret and not having the possibility to see who someone voted for?
That's the best argument against this. They can't possibly guarantee anonymity when you're sending a vote from your phone.
That, and there would be some serious protest from people who feel that this type of voting would create an uneven field, where an advantage of convenience is given to those who can afford cell phones.
selling votes is done anyway. some people have given a bottle of vodka for a vote. when someone is watching how you vote or wants you to vote a certain way you can later go and vote in private booth and your mobile or online vote will be deleted
It doesn't sound like the Estonian system is anonymous the way it is here. It's also allows someone to coerce someone into changing their vote, since the voting isn't taking place in a verifiably private setting like a booth. Combining secret ballot with verifiability, in an environment where entire nations would be motivated to try to game the election if this were technically possible, isn't as easy at it sounds. The analogy to banking systems or e-commerce via credit card is flawed because there are actually breaches to those systems all the time ... it's just that institutions in that business foot the bill for some of the risk. Who foots the bill to "insure" an election against fraud?
I am also from Estonia but I grew up in North America. The majority of the comments above are nonsense. The system is 100% secure. Every citizen has the ability to electronically authenticate oneself online (electronic identity card or via secure mobile). One is also able to digitally sign documents(same validity as old fashioned signatures) using the same systems. These methods are secure and also used by the banking systems as well as all other government systems (portals etc.). One single electronic identity method for public and private websites. The majority of public transit tickets are also purchased using these electronic identity methods. The reason the Russians executed cyber attacks against Estonia in 2007 is because the country lives and breathes the internet. 98% of all banking transactions are executed electronically. No cheques, no visits to tellers, etc. Voting is 100% secure and anonymous. The time period for electronic voting is BEFORE the regular voting day. IF someone coerseses or pays you to vote electronically for someone, one can simply go to the voting station on election day and "redo" your vote. Buying someone's electronic vote is pointless because you would have to lock the person up on election day to avoid them "redoing" their vote. If you doubt Estonia's cyber skills, NATO has set up the Cyber security center in Estonia. In fact US armed forces personnel visit Estonia to learn from what's being done here. If you want to see the future, visit Estonia
"The whole process of voting should be complicated to it's core to avoid counting the votes of every moron who can't fill out all the paperwork correctly."
(original quote by RamboAmadeus)
In Soviet Estonia SSR, Cellphone votes YOU!!!!
I wander why Jeb Bush and the state of Florida did'nt think of that before.
The possibilities for...(ahem), the possibilities are endless!
Actually why should be limited by cell phones?
We can just vote via our TV remote control!
Just after an electoral spot jou can just push any button of you remote to vote for THE canditate; should you want to vote for some other candidate you just have to push "menu" insert your 43 digits pin code followed by your social security nr. and by you passport nr multiplied for the square root of the date of you birth and then wait for the list of alternative candidates to upload.
Now Choose you candidate and then confirm your vote by inserting your PUK code divided by the age of your maternal grandmother expressed in months.
The future of democracy is all in the new technologies my friend!
I don't see how 1 chip totally kills it. you could get it on one of your off days before the election, and be all set
I think (I hope) Engadged isn't actually serious about mobilizing voting. I'd say 1/4-1/3 of all votes cast are done so by someone who has no business voting in the first place. I'm actually in favor of having some form of IQ/politics quiz that you must pass before your vote is allowed. Mobile voting will only magnify the problem exponentially. Most educated/responsible voters have no problem getting off their collective asses to actually go to a secure location to vote. Yes, it take a bit of effort - let's keep it that way. It's the only thing keeping at least some of the morons away from the ballots.
Isn't Estonia where all the Stoners live?
No dude, that's Pensylvania Avenue
You can kiss your fair elections good bye. (not that we have had them since before electronic voting)
The "authorization chip" in question is a SIM card that contains a private key file and supports secure authentication. Available for a while now from Estonian mobile carriers.
E-military
The Military of Estonia is introducing a new 21st century based cyber warfare and defence formation in order to protect the vital infrastructure and e-infrastructure of Estonia. Currently the leading organization in the Estonian cyber defence is the CERT (the Computer Emergency Response Team of Estonia), established in 2006, as an organisation responsible for the management of security incidents in .ee computer networks. Its task is to assist Estonian internet users in the implementation of preventive measures in order to reduce possible damage from security incidents and to help them in responding to security threats. The unit deals with security incidents that occur in Estonian networks, are started there, or have been notified of by citizens or institutions either in Estonia or abroad.[15]
On 25 June 2007, Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves met with the president of USA, George W. Bush.[16] Among the topics discussed were the attacks on Estonian e-infrastructure.[17] The attacks triggered a number of military organisations around the world to reconsider the importance of network security to modern military doctrine. On 14 June 2007, defence ministers of NATO members held a meeting in Brussels, issuing a joint communiqué promising immediate action. First public results are estimated to arrive by autumn 2007.[18]
As to the placement of a newly planned NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE), Bush proclaimed the policy of USA as supporting Estonia as this centre's location.[19] In the aftermath of the Cyberattacks on Estonia 2007, plans to combine network defence with Estonian military doctrine, and related NATO plans to create a Cybernetic Defence Centre in Estonia, have been nicknamed the "Tiger's Defence"
E-goverment
Estonia has pursued the development of the e-state and e-government. Internet voting is used in elections in Estonia.[69] The first Internet voting took place in the 2005 local elections and the first in a parliamentary election was made available for the 2007 elections, in which 30,275 individuals voted over the Internet. Voters have a chance to invalidate their vote in traditional elections, if they wish to. In its 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Estonia 3rd out of 169 countries.
Skype was created by entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, and a team of software developers based in Tallinn, Estonia.
Kazaa and FastTrack were created by Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, and Priit Kasesalu in Estonia and published in the Netherlands
Joost was created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis
so estonia can pull it off :)
peace out!
good to see estonia taking elections seriously
or not