Online voting could come in 2015 at the earliest
Electronic voting at polling stations being phased in as of 2008 municipal election
The party secretaries of the parties in the Finnish government feel that voting on the Internet could be possible in the middle of the next decade at the earliest.
Europarliamentarian Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) has proposed that voters be given the option of voting on line already in the elections for the European Parliament in 2009.
Centre Party secretary Jarmo Korhonen has called for stating in the next government programme that electronic voting be introduced at polling places in the 2015 Parliamentary elections, and that other systems to ease voting should be introduced in the next decade as well.
Electronic voting at actual polling stations is to be tested already in the municipal elections in the autumn in three communities in the south of Finland - Kauniainen, Vihti, and Karkkila.
Korhonen favours continuing the experiment with electronic voting in the EU elections in 2009. "There is reason to believe that by the middle of the next decade, electronic voting and on-line voting will be realistic in Finland."
National Coalition Party secretary Taru Tujunen feels that the idea "should definitely be moved forward", but that first problems related to identifying the voter need to be resolved.
"The National Coalition Party is not creating a system in which the state would establish an electronic identity card, for instance, for every citizen. I also feel that the fact that someone has the on-line banking codes of Nordea Bank is not a sufficient guarantee of equal treatment of voters", Tujunen says.
She feels that the matter should become the "top project of the government" if the timetable put forward by MEP Stubb were to be implemented.
The Greens are also cautious about the idea of voting over the Internet. A key concern among the greens is the prospect that in an online voting system outside the voting booth, it might be easier for outsiders to pressure a citizen to vote for a particular candidate.
Green League party secretary Panu Laturi says that the model used experimentally in Estonia could be worth considering in Finland as well. "There it is possible to change one's vote several times", Laturi says. He feels that the possibility to cancel one's vote adds security to the system.
Swedish People's Party secretary Ulla Achrén does not feel that Internet voting will be possible yet "for quite a few elections". However, she is in favour of electronic voting at the polling place.
"On election day, it should be possible to vote electronically in locations set in advance - in foreign countries as well.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 31.1.2008 - TODAY |
 Online voting could come in 2015 at the earliest |
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