The Election Commission decided that mobile voting will not be available in the autumn local government elections. The main reason is that mobile applications are usually difficult to verify. The vote on this was quite balanced.
The chair of the Election Commission, Ingrid Kullerkann, said that the application is easiest to distribute through Google Play and Apple's App Store. However, the commission needs to be 100% sure that this method is verifiable. Not all commission members were convinced of this.
The mobile voting application was tested in May. Over 2400 people participated in the test. The testing showed that the application is reliable. User feedback was positive.
The main problem is the distribution channel of the application. If the application is distributed from the election website, it can be easily verified. But if the application is distributed through app stores, it is difficult to verify. This is usually done by a special verifier.
The application will not be available in the autumn. Whether it will be available in the next parliamentary elections is still unknown. National rules state that the Election Commission decides on which systems the application operates.
Kullerkann said that mobile voting is not unsafe. Google and Apple app stores are secure. But the usual verification of applications is not common. Application creators usually do not need it.
Election organizers expect that the security of the application can be verified not only by the app store owner but also by a special verifier. This issue still needs to be addressed. The local government council elections will take place from October 13th to 19th.