Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania THE LITHUANIAN CONCEPT OF VOTING VIA INTERNET FOR ELECTIONS AND REFERENDA Approved by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania on November 16, 2006.

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania ELECTION ENVIRONMENT National elections held in Lithuania: • Elections of the President - every 5 years; • Elections of the Seimas (Parliamentary elections) – every 4 years, scheduled in Autumn 2008; • Municipal elections – every 4 years, scheduled February 25, 2007; • Elections of the European Parliament – every 5 years; • Referenda. Held occasionally, usually are combined with the elections.

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania ELECTION ENVIRONMENT Lithuanian electorate Total population ~ 3 600 000 People entitled to vote (18+ years old) - ~2 600 000 Average turnout (2004) ~ 36% on E-day, ~7% by post (~44% total) and decreasing E-banking users - ~600 000 (23% of potential voters) Lithuanian citizens living and working abroad – est. ~ 300 000

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania VOTING CHANNELS AND IT Current means of voting: • traditional voting on the E-day (usually Sunday) using paper ballots; • postal voting – advanced voting by post, usually held Wednesday-Friday prior to Election Sunday. Use of Internet and other IT technologies: • Electronic voters lists; • Print-out voters’ card; • Computerized District Election Commissions equipped with Internet connection. • Regularly updated website of the CEC

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania THE PREHISTORY April 25, 2005 - Parliament of Lithuania has adopted The Activity Report 2005 of the Central Electoral Committee May 17, 2005 – The draft Concept was introduced to the public, politicians, journalists, IT specialists and other people interested at the international conference in Vilnius. June 27, 2006 - The Concept of Voting via Internet during Elections and Referenda has been approved by the CEC and presented to the Parliament. November 16, 2006 – The Seimas of Lithuania has passed the decision on approving the Concept of Voting via Internet during Elections and Referenda

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania PRINCIPLES OF I-VOTING • Within voting via Internet, the election principles set forth in the Constitution shall be observed, i. e. universal, equal and direct suffrage and secret ballot must be ensured. • Voting via Internet shall comply with all requirements and principles approved for a traditional voting. • Voting via Internet shall be as secure as voting at a polling station or voting by post.

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania PRIORITIES OF THE VOTE • • • The highest priority has the vote casted at PS. Internet vote is being deleted. If the voter has casted his/her vote both by post and the Internet, his postal vote is not being counted Postal vote is counted only if neither Internet of “paper” voting were used. VOTE AT POLLING STATION INTERNET VOTE POSTAL VOTE ELECTION RESULTS

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania MAIN ASPECTS OF I-VOTING • Remote voting - @home, @work, @internet café, etc. • Advanced voting – 6 – 4 days before E-Day. • Alternative channel of vote ballot voting and postal voting stay. casting – traditional paper-

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania VOTING CHANNELS The voter can vote either by post, or by Internet, or by traditional voting at the polling station I-voting shall be an additional way of casting the vote. POST Postal voting PEC VOTER DEC Voting in PS CEC server Internet voting E-Banking (identification) e-ballotbox Central Electoral Commission

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania VOTING DAYS E-DAY Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Political campagning is prohibited Voting via Internet Postal voting Voting at home Voting using Paper balltos NB. Despite means of voting used, only one vote is being counted

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania FUNDAMENTAL SCHEME OF I-VOTING Voters’ bank account 1. Identification of the voter Voters’ e-banking website Voters’ PC 4. Permission to vote via secure channel The voter may cast his vote only once! VOTER Electronic Voters list (Registry of Population) 2. The voters’ data is being transferred 3. Voters’ data check and determining the constituency Secure CEC server CEC

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania BREAKING VOTER-VOTE LINKS AND COUNTIG THE VOTES Voters’ list ELECTION RESULTS e-ballot box Voter 1 Voter 2 @#$%^&*($RT^&* Party A KG&*&@(&^s. D S*(^HJKDBHWDA Party B $#%^@*(##@@ Voter 3 I-voting results *(^@*(!*^()!@(*EA Party C AJKHD&*%*^&$

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania INDENTIFICATION USING E-BANKING ADVANTAGES • • • Commercial banks of Lithuania have developed secure and safe ebanking systems witch include proper client identification systems (code cards and code generators). Banks have more than 600 000 clients using e-banking on a regular basis. This system bay be used abroad as well Identification via e-banking is already successfully tested and being used to provide tax declarations to the State Tax Inspectorate Identification of the voters using ebanking does not require large investments into hardware. The voter does not have to suffer any additional costs, such as purchasing smart card reader, etc. QUESTIONS… • • • While banks represent private, usually foreign origin sector, cost and public trust are maters to discuss. Possible dishonesty of bank employees. An IT technician in the bank may log into the CEC server pretending to be a voter. I-Voting is not accessible to the persons who have not signed ebanking agreements.

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania THINGS TO DO. . . 1. Make respective amendments to Law on Election of Municipal Councils, Law on Election to Seimas, Law on Presidential Elections, Law on Election to the European Parliament, Law on Referendum with inclusion of statements on i-voting as an alternative to traditional voting. 2. Develop or buy the software and the hardware for i-voting. 3. Test, check and re-check the system. The system will not be launched until all reasonable threats are solved. 4. Launch a pilot / test project to make it common to public. 5. Introduce i-voting as the alternative voting channel at the binding elections of the Seimas in autumn 2008.

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania QUESTIONS TO ANSWER. . . 1. What are the conditions to recognize the i-voting invalid? 2. What are the effective ways to observe i-voting? 3. Will i-voting replace postal voting? 4. Will i-voting increase the turnout? 5. Will i-voting attract citizens living abroad to take part in elections? 6. What is the payback period of i-voting?

Central Electoral Commission of The Republic of Lithuania THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Presentation prepared by Jonas Udris Member of the CEC of Lithuania +370 60 40 1000 jonas@sutartys. lt