Internet Voting

Internet voting (sometimes called i-voting or remote electronic voting) refers to the casting of ballots transmitted over the public internet, typically from a voter's personal computer, smartphone, or tablet. It is distinct from electronic voting machines used at polling stations (which may be offline) and from postal voting, though it shares with the latter the challenge of verifying voter identity outside a controlled environment.

Estonia is the most cited national example: it introduced binding internet voting for local elections in 2005 and for parliamentary (Riigikogu) elections in 2007, becoming the first country to do so nationwide. Estonian i-voting relies on the national electronic ID card and digital signature infrastructure, and voters may re-cast their ballot multiple times during the advance voting period, with only the final vote counted — a design intended to mitigate coercion.

Other jurisdictions have experimented more cautiously. Switzerland has piloted internet voting in several cantons since the early 2000s, with the federal government suspending and resuming trials based on security audits. Canada permits online voting in many municipal elections in Ontario and Nova Scotia. Norway ran trials in 2011 and 2013 but discontinued them, citing concerns about public trust and the secret ballot. France suspended internet voting for expatriates in its 2017 legislative elections due to cyberattack risk.

Proponents argue internet voting can boost turnout, lower costs, and improve accessibility for disabled voters, military personnel, and citizens abroad. Critics — including bodies such as the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, whose 2018 report Securing the Vote recommended against it — point to risks of malware on client devices, server-side attacks, vote-buying, coercion in uncontrolled settings, and the difficulty of conducting meaningful recounts or audits of cryptographic ballots. The tension between verifiability and ballot secrecy remains the central technical and democratic challenge.