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Tuesday, 23.04.2024, 10:31
ID card security risk causes no changes in attitudes towards e-voting in Estonia
The survey commissioned by Postimees and BNS was carried out immediately
after the security risk with ID cards was announced to the public. Altogether
1,468 people of ages 15-74 for the survey from September 8 through 14 were
asked what kind of activities they deem necessary on the internet. Emor asked
the same question also in April.
While 66.9% of people in Estonia considered the opportunity for electronic
voting necessary in April, then the number was at 63.8% in September. At the same
time 27.6% of respondents in April and 31.8% in September deemed e-voting
unnecessary. The rest of the respondents had no opinion on the matter.
Aivar Voog, survey expert at Kantar Emor, said that the change is marginal.
"Increase in security risk is perceived more by women and people in
Estonia with a lower education level," he said, adding that the attitude
towards e-voting is mostly dependent on which party the respondent supports.
"Approximately half of the voters of the Estonian Conservative People's
Party (EKRE) and the Center Party consider the opportunity unnecessary. As
Center Party is mostly supported by non-ethnic Estonians, then their
attitude towards e-voting is also critical," Voog said.
In comparison, approximately 100% of people in Estonia consider e-banking
and the e-tax system necessary. "Therefore, the attitude towards those
activities is not dependent on socio-demographical indicators," Voog
said. Altogether 99.4% of respondents in April and 98.9% in September deemed
e-banking necessary, while 98.4% in April and 97.2% in September considered the
e-tax system necessary.
"I would have expected a harder blow immediately after [the disclosure
of the security risk]," Mihkel
Solvak, political scientist at the University of Tartu, said.
He recalled how in May 2014, slightly before the European Parliament
elections, the Tallinn city government invited Alex Halderman from the University of Michigan to speak about
e-voting, who then said that they are so unsafe that they should be done away
with immediately. "The media also covered this extensively. Experts made a
lot of effort to clarify that his claims were not competent," Solvak
said.
Approximately a third of voters have used the e-voting opportunity at
elections so far. Voters using the e-voting system made up 30.5% of voters at
parliamentary elections in 2015, while the number stood at 31.3% at the
European Parliament elections in 2014 and at 21.2% at the local elections in
2013.
"Perhaps the number of e-voters in Estonia will not increase any more
as users of electronic identification make up approximately 50% of ID card
holders. A third of votes is already given electronically, but a certain group
of people will keep voting on paper," Solvak said.
Prime Minister and Center Party chairman Juri Ratas at a press conference on September 5 announced a
security risk with ID cards and recommended that people start using Mobile
ID instead. The potential security risk affects ID cards issued since
October 2014, including cards issued to e-residents, which number approximately
750,000. At the same time experts said that the risk is only theoretical and
cracking the code of all faulty cards would cost approximately 60 billion
euros.
The National Electoral Committee decided at a meeting on September 6
that e-voting will take place in the Oct. 15 local polls in Estonia as planned.
It was announced on September 12 that the Estonian Information System Authority
(RIA) is already working on a potential solution to the problem.