Estonia has become the world’s first nation to recognize mobile suffrage after passing legislation to allow its citizens the ability to cast their votes in the 2011 parliamentary elections with their cell phones.
This is the second time Estonia has adopted such an innovative, pro-tech law, having given Estonians the ability to vote in the parliamentary elections over the Internet for the first time last year.
In regards to security, Raul Kaidro, a spokesman for the SK Certification Center in charge of issuing personal ID cards in Estonia, explains:
The mobile-voting system, which has already been tested, requires that voters obtain free, authorized chips for their phones. The chip will verify the voter’s identity and authorize participation in the electronic voting system.
The system and software have proven effective and reliable in an independent security audit, he continues…dismiss[ing] security concerns, claiming the system “is the most secure way to authenticate digital signatures.”
Security concerns aside, the adoption of mobile voting will most almost assuredly result in greater citizen participation. Hopefully, they’ll send voters a confirmation text: U vtd 2day!
[via Y!News]
Sounds like a great idea…except for those security issues. I wish I could have voted for Obama by cell phone rather than waiting in long lines!
There’s nothing about these proposals that will make voting any the easier, so I doubt they will increase turnout, and they may well prove profoundly undemocratic:http://www.reviewsreviewed.co.uk/index.php/mobileblog/The-X-factor-Estonia-texts-the-end-of-the-secret-ballot.html