Dec. 29 - Estonian eVoting

in

Two folks on my Colca Canyon tour were from Estonia and it turns out their country is an incredible tech hub. With a population of just 1.3 million people, they are home to four $1 billion tech companies (1:325k ratio compared to California’s 1:630k).

The government of Estonia has leaned heavily into tech. Nearly all public services are available online including voting! In 2019, 44% of the populace submitted their votes online.

Estonia has had e-voting since 2005. Their system relies on a national identification card that contains a digital chip similar to the one you find in your credit card. Each citizen of Estonia is entitled to a card and a card reader that plugs into their computer. Newer computers even have this card reader built in. This card/reader combination allows Estonian citizens to securely manage all national services online.

During the voting process, a citizen utilizes their national ID card and two PIN codes to submit their vote. The voter can then verify submission using a QR code and a mobile application.

In recent years, the government has also developed a mobile application that allows citizens to link their phones to their national ID using a specialized SIM card. This allows citizens to manage all services without the need for a card reader. Simply open up your mobile app and vote.

I would love to see a system like this developed in the US. Historically, I have been very cautious about such a system because of the security issues, but Estonia’s track record shows a system that seems to be working well. The international cybersecurity community has criticized the Estonian election system so I don’t believe it is without flaws, but it certainly seems like a good foundation to work from.

One of the companies trying to bring e-voting to the US is Voatz, a Boston based startup funded by a former Uber lawyer/lobbyist. Unfortunately, they’ve been heavily criticized for their security and still have a long way to go.

I hope that one day we’ll see e-voting here in the US, but it probably won’t happen any time soon.