About the technology and security of electronic voting

The security of electronic voting is sometimes doubted and, for instance, the election secrecy is questioned. Voters may also be concerned whether their vote will be counted at all.

The voting system has been created, planned and tested in cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the municipalities. Even if international experiences have been taken into account in the planning, the voting system is not a direct copy of any existing system, but it has been tailor-made to suit to the Finnish election system and the central principles of holding elections in Finland.

The voting system includes a centralised electronic ballot box, in which the votes are stored in an encrypted form so that it is impossible to combine the content of the vote and the voter. The system uses the most advanced encryption technique available today. The voting system has also been secured so that no one can delete, add or change the votes in the ballot box.

The technical process of electronic voting

  1. The voter presents proof of his or her identity to the election official, just like in paper ballot voting.
  2. The official checks the voter’s right to vote in the election information system.
  3. The official registers in the system that the electronic voting has started.
  4. The voter is given an electronic voting card on which his or her data are recorded.
  5. The voter enters the polling booth and logs in to the voting program by inserting the voting card in the card reader.
  6. The voting programme reads the data on the electronic voting card and checks that the official has registered that the voting has started.
  7. The voter enters the number of the candidate by touching the screen.
  8. The identification information of the candidate will appear on the screen.
  9. The voter confirms his or her choice by pressing OK.
  10. The programme makes a registration of that the right to vote has been used electronically and that the vote as well as the voter’s personal identity code are stored in an encrypted form in the electronic ballot box .
  11. When the time for voting has expired the system is closed .
  12. The election authorities referred to in the Election Act open the electronic ballot box, whereupon the system separates the votes and the personal identity codes

Those who are particularly interested in the technique may visit the website of the supplier of the information security solution (SCYTL S.A.) for more information.