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The How and Why to Internet Voting an Attempt to Explain E-Stonia

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Electronic Voting (E-Vote-ID 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 10141))

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Abstract

The introduction of remote electoral methods (also, e.g., postal voting) serves the citizen in providing an easily accessible and comfortable means of voting. In addition, remote voting is also considered a viable alternative for disenfranchised voters whose participation in elections has always been dependent on the methods they are offered – voters living or residing permanently abroad, voters who are living in conditions which make it difficult for them to attend elections for geographical reasons and voters with disabilities. All these voters need to make extra efforts in participating in the democratic process, and in all these cases, the principle of universality (or general elections) prevails over the possible concerns connected with the way of voting.

Still, Estonia is the only country in the world providing remote electronic means to its citizens in all elections countrywide. In this article we try to explain the reasons and modalities how Estonia could retain this service where other countries failed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Commission (OpenGovIntelligence H2020 grant 693849), Estonian Research Council (grants IUT19-13) and Tallinn University of Technology Project B42.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Estonian National Electoral Committee, Tallinn, Estonia

    Priit Vinkel

  2. Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Robert Krimmer

Authors
  1. Priit Vinkel
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  2. Robert Krimmer
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Correspondence to Priit Vinkel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Robert Krimmer

  2. Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    Melanie Volkamer

  3. EVOL2-eVoting Research Lab, Tarragona, Spain

    Jordi Barrat

  4. Microsoft Research, Seattle, USA

    Josh Benaloh

  5. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Nicole Goodman

  6. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Peter Y. A. Ryan

  7. University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Vanessa Teague

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Vinkel, P., Krimmer, R. (2017). The How and Why to Internet Voting an Attempt to Explain E-Stonia. In: Krimmer, R., et al. Electronic Voting. E-Vote-ID 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10141. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52240-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52240-1_11

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