Estonia--which has a population of roughly 1.4 million and is geographically about the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined--counted a total of about half a million votes in its local government council elections, according to preliminary numbers on the Estonian National Electoral Committee's Web site. Roughly 6,000 of those votes were cast online, according to preliminary town-level tallies posted at the site.
Tallinn - Staatspräsident Arnold Rüütel ist kein Freund der Online-Wahlen. Er betrachtet sie als einen Verstoß gegen die Wahlgleichheit und verweigerte seine Unterschrift unter das betreffende Gesetz. Durch die Möglichkeit zur Stimmänderung seien die Nicht-Computer-Wähler den Interntetnutzern nicht mehr gleichgestellt. Das Verfassungsgericht müsse entscheiden, meinte der 77-Jährige. Die Richter in Tallinn aber stimmten ihm nicht zu.
In a controversial move, Estonia has changed its election laws to allow its citizens to vote via the internet. If this first try is successful, Estonia will extend e-voting to all other kinds of elections. In the regional elections, 21% of Estonians want to make use of e-voting, but it is not expected to boost the turnout of voters, usually pretty low in these kind of elections in the sparsely-populated country.
Read more: Estonia first country in the world to introduce internet voting