Swiss Review 2/2021

Swiss Review / April 2021 / No.2 23 Politics EVEL INE RUTZ Swiss voters will again be able to vote in elections and referendums at the click of a mouse. After grinding to a halt one-and-a-half years ago, e-vot- ing has been resurrected by the fed- eral authorities. Cantons will be al- lowed to offer it on a trial basis to a limited number of people. Thurgau, Fribourg and St. Gallen have already expressed interest. They will be able to start as soon as the statutory frame- work has been adapted accordingly – probably in 2022. Electronic voting has been de- bated for years in Switzerland. The federal government has been trying to develop and establish a secure sys- temsince 2004. It had authorised over 300 trials in 15 cantons by the time it brought matters to a halt inmid-2019, after the two most important e-vot- ing providers decided to recall their software. The pioneering canton of Geneva bailed out for financial rea- sons, while Swiss Post took its solu- tion out of service after external ex- perts discovered security f laws. Deprived of a digital means of voting, democratic participation among the Swiss Abroad has plummeted. This was evident in the 2019 national elec- tions, when voter turnout within the “Fifth Switzerland” fell by up to a third in cantons that had offered e-voting back in 2015. The Swiss diaspora are anything but amused. Postal voting scuppered by the pandemic Many Swiss Abroad complain that they are being prevented from exer- cising their political rights, adding that policymakers lack the will to do anything about it. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 pandemic has made it even harder to vote by post. Postal services have beenworking at the limit of their capacity at times, with voting papers arriving even later than they used to in many parts of the world. Expatri- ates living overseas are basically no longer able to vote in their home country. Their hopes of e-voting are high. “Expats no longer have to fear losing their vote because it takes too long to send their voting papers back by post,” said Federal ChancellorWalter Thurn- herr inDecemberwhenhe announced the government’s decision to reintro- duce e-voting. The visually impaired would benefit particularly frome-vot- ing, he added, as theywould be able to fill in their voting papers without the help of a sighted person. Thurnherr said there was a need for e-voting be- causemore andmore of us aremanag- E-voting gets a second chance Switzerland’s cantons are now allowed to offer e-voting again. But it will take some time before voters can use a rebooted version of the technology. ing our lives online, but that the fed- eral government still believed security comes before speed. It wanted to go about things the right way. “E-voting in elections and popular votes will onlywork if citizens trust the process,” he said. Continually monitored and improved The Federal Council now wants stricter security, saying that it will only approve fully verifiable systems in future. Such systems allowusers to check whether their votes have been registered correctly. They also ensure that systemicmalfunctions and cases of voter fraud are identified. E-voting solutions will be more closely moni- tored and continually improved. The government will rely on independent specialists to do this job, but will also remunerate members of the public who can provide useful tip-offs. Cur- rent law already stipulates that the source code and documentation of any e-voting platform must be disclosed. Open-source criteria will now apply. The statutory framework still needs to be adapted before testing can restart. Consultations on that are scheduled for this year. E-voting could then be up and running again in 2022. Meanwhile, Swiss Post unveiled its new, improved e-voting platform in January. Cantons criticise restrictions and costs However, e-voting – the third regular voting channel alongside ballot-box voting and postal voting – will be available to no more than 30 per cent Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr: “E-voting in elections and popular votes will only work if citizens trust the process.” Photo: Danielle Liniger