E-voting trials: new legal basis to be finalised by mid-2022

The cantons shall again be able to carry out trials with e-voting. The Federal Council has decided to create the necessary legal basis by mid-2022. The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad welcomes this progress.

To enable the cantons again to carry out e-voting trials, these are to be redesigned and given a new legal basis. The Federal Council has, based on a consultation procedure, decided to revise two ordinances, the Ordinance on Political Rights (PoRO) and the Federal Chancellery Ordinance on Electronic Voting (OEV). The Federal Chancellery is instructed to finalise the PoRO and the OEV by mid-2022.

The main features and objectives of the redesigned trials have been welcomed by the majority of respondents in the consultation. The focus on the further development of the systems, effective control and oversight, greater transparency and trust as well as closer cooperation with the academic community all meet with great approval.

A large majority of the cantons support the proposal. However, they also stress high development costs that the redesign of e-voting will generate. The Federal Council believes that it makes sense for the Confederation to contribute to the development costs and is in favour of this taking place via Digital Public Services Switzerland (DPSS).

The Confederation sets the legislative framework for e-voting, while the cantons de-cide whether to offer this voting method to their voters. The Federal Council envisages to limit e-voting trials to a maximum of 30 per cent of voters in a canton and to a maximum of 10 per cent of all voters nationwide. 

The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad welcomes the progress made and will continue to campaign for the creation of a reliable system of electronic voting.