Germany Sees Some Internet Voting by 2006
May 03, 2001 10:36 AM ET
By Adam Tanner
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany outlined cautious plans on Thursday to allow some citizens to vote online in 2006, but officials stressed that reliability and security were more important than speed and ease of access.
"We want to be totally sure that electoral integrity will be maintained, thus it will be a step-by-step process," Interior Minister Otto Schily told reporters after a government organized conference on Internet democracy. "There must be no doubts about the results of online elections."
After carefully rebuilding democracy after the Nazi era and establishing a strong post-war tradition of privacy, Germany has only slowly embraced the Internet's possibilities for changing the way elections are conducted.
The United States has already initiated some test programs on Internet voting, and last November allowed some 200 U.S. military personnel abroad to cast their ballots for president this way.
Yet use of the Internet has been restricted mostly to shareholder voting by some U.S. companies and a few mock exercises by state and local governments using commercially available software.
Some German universities have used Internet voting for internal elections.
Schily said Germans would probably be able to vote anywhere in the country in 2006 at polling stations linked electronically, instead of being restricted to their home districts as at present.
Some voters might also be able to cast ballots via the Internet that year, Deputy Interior Minister Brigitte Zypries said.
It was unclear when the country might introduce a system where anyone could vote from any Internet-connected computer. Schily said it might be possible by 2010.
"It's a question of being really secure that makes it difficult," said Zypries, Germany's Internet security chief.
The German city state of Bremen is leading the country in developing an Internet voting system and may be ready before 2006, Zypries said. "The development is so quick that it is difficult to say in 2001 what will be in the next five years."
Germany's next national election comes in 2002.
Schily and Economics Minister Werner Mueller said the Internet would also give German voters unprecedented access to information and to their candidates, half of whom are chosen by party lists rather than direct votes in parliamentary elections.
May 03, 2001 10:36 AM ET
By Adam Tanner
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany outlined cautious plans on Thursday to allow some citizens to vote online in 2006, but officials stressed that reliability and security were more important than speed and ease of access.
"We want to be totally sure that electoral integrity will be maintained, thus it will be a step-by-step process," Interior Minister Otto Schily told reporters after a government organized conference on Internet democracy. "There must be no doubts about the results of online elections."
After carefully rebuilding democracy after the Nazi era and establishing a strong post-war tradition of privacy, Germany has only slowly embraced the Internet's possibilities for changing the way elections are conducted.
The United States has already initiated some test programs on Internet voting, and last November allowed some 200 U.S. military personnel abroad to cast their ballots for president this way.
Yet use of the Internet has been restricted mostly to shareholder voting by some U.S. companies and a few mock exercises by state and local governments using commercially available software.
Some German universities have used Internet voting for internal elections.
Schily said Germans would probably be able to vote anywhere in the country in 2006 at polling stations linked electronically, instead of being restricted to their home districts as at present.
Some voters might also be able to cast ballots via the Internet that year, Deputy Interior Minister Brigitte Zypries said.
It was unclear when the country might introduce a system where anyone could vote from any Internet-connected computer. Schily said it might be possible by 2010.
"It's a question of being really secure that makes it difficult," said Zypries, Germany's Internet security chief.
The German city state of Bremen is leading the country in developing an Internet voting system and may be ready before 2006, Zypries said. "The development is so quick that it is difficult to say in 2001 what will be in the next five years."
Germany's next national election comes in 2002.
Schily and Economics Minister Werner Mueller said the Internet would also give German voters unprecedented access to information and to their candidates, half of whom are chosen by party lists rather than direct votes in parliamentary elections.
