Election Administration and Electoral Studies: Theories, Frameworks and Anomalies

Abstract

For the ancient institution of democracy, 26 February 2007 was a historic day. At 9 a.m. that day, voting began in the parliamentary elections in the small East European state of Estonia. These elections were unique. It was the first time that binding parliamentary elections had ever been held through the Internet. Six days before the polls opened as normal, citizens were able to cast their vote from the comfort of their own home using their PC, an electronic smart card reader, their national identity card and a password which had been sent to them. Over 30,275 people did so — about one in 30 registered voters. Internet voting had been tested before in Estonian local elections in October 2005 and other countries had held pilots, but this time the e-votes cast would determine the composition of the national parliament, and the balance of power within Estonia. The public reaction to this historic day appeared positive. A 24-year-old IT worker described the process as being ‘pleasant and simple’. Speaking to a TV news network he said, ‘I moved quite recently so I am still registered in my old home town. This means that to have voted, I would have had to return home’ [sic] (Cowan, 2007). Tarvi Martens from the National Electoral Committee which organised the election was the Project Manager of i-voting. According to him, ‘internet voting is [here] to stay … there is no way back’ (Martens, 2007).