Press Release, 1.07.2025

Electronic voting is an extremely controversial tool. It has many supporters and many opponents. Some countries have tried to introduce electronic voting in their elections, but then inevitably returned to paper. Today, only the experience of Estonia is virtually the only example of the successful introduction of electronic voting into the electoral system. It is the Estonian experience that innovators refer to when introducing electronic voting at home. This year marks 20 years since the moment when, Estonians were the first in the world to officially vote at virtual polling stations in the local elections of 2005. Since then, electronic voting has been regularly used in Estonia in municipal, European, and national parliamentary elections.

However, things are not quite so simple there. During each election cycle, there are political parties that accuse the Central Electoral Commission and their opponents of falsifying the results. How does this happen? Why do some political parties criticise electronic voting, while others promote it (and why do they then change their minds to the opposite?). Why do some parties win “paper elections,” while others win “electronic elections”? What is the difference between “paper” voters and those who vote online? Why has electronic voting been a topic of debate in every election campaign for the past twenty years? What problems and troubles are plaguing the Estonian electronic voting system today?