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Ge.ch > Thèmes > Citoyenneté > Votations - Elections > Votations > E-Voting > FAQ

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

1. Political rights
2. Organisation of polling
3. Internet voting
4. Online voting is so simple
5. Frequent problems
6. Checking the voting site certificate
7. I have voted but I would still like to know...
8. Data protection
9. I would also like to know

3. Internet voting

What is e-voting?

The term "e-voting" has very different meanings from one country to the next. In Switzerland, this term has been adopted to define the exercising of political rights electronically, i.e. participating in an election or popular vote online and signing initiatives and referendums electronically. The latter is not yet possible.

What are the issues involved in internet voting?

There are numerous issues involved in internet voting:

1. Authentication of the voter in order to respect the principle of "one citizen one vote" (preventing voters from voting more than once). In the Geneva system, the existence of a single electoral roll for the three voting methods (online voting, postal voting and polling stations) prevents voters from voting more than once using a number of methods.
2. Authentication of the voting website, in order to prevent votes from being cast on counterfeit websites. In the Geneva system this is obtained in two ways. The citizen can check the authenticity of the electronic certificate that authenticates the voting site http://www.ge.ch/evoting/english/faq-certificate.asp. Furthermore, a personal control code, linked to the individual voting card number, is displayed on the screen. Only the official system can link the number of the voting card to the correct control code. This code is unique and personal.
3. Guaranteeing integrity of the information during its transfer on the internet. In the Geneva system, the integrity of the information during its transfer on the internet is obtained by establishing a secure connection between your computer and the voting servers. This connection has dual security: through SSL protocol, on the one hand, and through a Java applet, which is developed specifically for the voting application and is owned by the State of Geneva, on the other hand.
4. Guaranteeing integrity of the information stored in the electronic ballot box. In the Geneva system, this integrity is guaranteed by encrypting the electronic ballot box. The encryption keys are held by the Central Electoral Committee.
5. Guaranteeing the authenticity of the result, in other words guaranteeing that the result produced by the system reflects the wishes of the voters that have used it. This is guaranteed both by the system architecture and by the hardware and software configuration. The aim of this configuration is to prevent any action that is not part of the voting procedure. A control ballot box receives votes with known content and must recreate them at the end of the ballot to check the integrity of votes passing through the system.
6. Guaranteeing the anonymity of votes cast online. The electoral roll does not contain any nominative data and is not interconnected to the electronic ballot box, so there is no way of seeing how a particular citizen has voted.

Why internet voting?

The introduction of postal voting increased electoral turnout in Geneva by twenty points. Now, 95% of voters vote by post and only 5% go to polling stations. Internet voting relies on information technologies to consolidate the progress in postal voting, of which it is an extension.

Furthermore, this type of voting enables Swiss citizens living abroad (10% of Swiss citizens live outside the country) and disabled people to exercise their civic rights more easily.

Other arguments in favour are the simplicity of ballot counting, being able to prevent unintentional spoiled ballot papers and the attraction of this voting method for some abstainers, who are thus encouraged to vote.

Until when can I vote by internet?

Internet voting closes at midday on the Saturday before the day on which the polling stations open (polling day).

What is the Swiss Confederation's role in the project?

The Swiss Confederation has selected the cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel and Zurich to each develop an online voting system, in response to the very wide circulation of information technologies. Under the agreements concluded between each of these cantons and the Confederation, the latter is the project manager of these trials. The solutions developed by these three cantons are made available to the rest of the country.

Why is Geneva hosting other cantons on its online voting system?

The Swiss Confederation has invited all 26 cantons to benefit from online voting, by using one of the three existing solutions. The cantons of Basel-City, Bern and Lucerne have chosen the Geneva solution. These cantons send Geneva their electoral rolls of citizens living abroad and these can vote on the Geneva system, but with an adapted interface using the graphics of the canton in which they exercise their political rights.

To date, thirteen cantons offer online voting: Geneva, Neuchâtel and Zurich with their own solutions and ten in cooperation with one of these three cantons.

What is the legal status of internet voting?

On a federal level, the federal law on political rights was amended in June 2002 to give the Swiss Federal Council the power to authorise use of information technologies in exercising political rights. In October 2002, the Federal Council included in the federal order on political rights provisions ensuring the security and confidentiality of internet voting. Cantons that wish to use online voting during federal ballots must request authorisation from the Federal Council. This limits the share of citizens having access to online voitng to 30% of the citizenry of any given canton.

In 2007, parliament amended the law on the political rights of Swiss citizens living abroad to enable them to vote online. This amendment came into force on 1^st January 2008.

On the Genevan level, since 1982 the cantonal law on exercising political rights has authorised trials of new voting methods. In August 2008, the Geneva parliament adopted a constitutional article 48 enshrining online voting in the Geneva constitution. On 8 February 2009, the people approved this article by 70.2% of the votes cast. In August 2009, the Grand Council amended the law on exercising political rights in order to add implementing provisions to article 48 of the Constitution. All of this legislation came into force on 1^st January 2010.

Will internet voting replace other forms of voting?

No, internet voting will be added to the current forms (postal voting and polling stations), but will not replace them.

What impact does internet voting have on turnout?

It is difficult to answer this question, because internet voting has not been generalised to all of Geneva yet because of the 30% limit mentioned above. We therefore do not have a series of comparable statistics that would have been taken before and after the introduction of online voting.

A survey conducted in spring 2001 by the Centre for research on direct democracy (c2d), on request of the State Chancellery, suggests that the introduction of internet voting could increase turnout by a maximum of nine points. This increase would particularly involve the 18 to 40 age range, which is the least inclined to vote. The introduction of postal voting increased average electoral turnout by twenty points. A survey conducted by c2d at the time of the first online federal ballot in September 2004 showed that 90% of people who had voted online stayed faithful to this method. Moreover, internet voting is used a lot by citizens who do not ordinarily vote very often.

The eGov Trendbarometer survey conducted regularly by Bern University of Applied Sciences during the 2000s showed that two thirds of Swiss citizens want to be able to vote online. The surveys conducted in 2003 and 2004 on request of the Federal Chancellery by the GFS institute also showed that 79% of young people between 18 and 29 were considering voting online.

Lastly, the share of online votes in Geneva is relatively stable at around 20%, whatever the total turnout. Therefore, there is a stable and constant core of voters who prefer to use the internet over any other method, whatever the type of ballot (municipal, cantonal or federal). All of these points raise expectations of an increase in turnout once online voting is brought into widespread use.

Last updated: April 2012