Like in Estonia: at the next presidential elections in Ukraine you will be able to vote in a mobile application

The next presidential elections in Ukraine will be available for voting through a special mobile

attachment. This was (among other things) the press service of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine. Technologically, the world is already ready to hold elections not just via the Internet, but through a mobile application. 3G and 4G have already been launched in Ukraine, more than half of the phones in the operators' networks are smartphones (and this share will increase by the next presidential election). There is an electronic digital signature and BankID and MobileID technologies that are enshrined in law. There is a blockchain technology, which allows to exclude any manipulations with the registry of votes. Finally, there is the successful experience of Estonia, which already in 2019 held parliamentary elections, in which 43.8% of voters voted in electronic form.

How e-voting works in Estonia

To authorize and implement the “onepeople - one voice ”users use the Estonian ID-kaart ID card. It is an identity card and has been issued since 2002. With a population of 1.32 million people, 1.04 million of such cards were issued. The ID card uses an electronic chip and supports data encryption using the public key infrastructure. Online voting is available in Estonia for a limited period of early voting (it is 4 to 6 days before the elections). At the same time, voters can change their opinion an unlimited number of times by choosing another candidate. On election day, it is already impossible to change your decision - the vote goes to the candidate who is finally secured last.

How e-voting will work in Ukraine

Electronic voting will of courseoptional - every citizen of Ukraine who has EDS, MobileID (supported by Kyivstar and Vodafone Ukraine) or BankID can use it. The corresponding bill, legitimizing e-voting and amending the law “On the vibe of the President of Ukraine” and the law “On the vibe of people's deputies of Ukraine” have already been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, and will be passed long before the next presidential campaign. In addition to the opportunity to vote on the CEC secure site, mobile applications for Android and iOS will be developed, which can be downloaded from the CEC site. In the appendix, after authorization, the full names of candidates, their election programs, as well as the full texts of income declarations and an extract from the state register on the sources of election campaign funds will be available. The voting data will be protected by a 1024-bit cryptographic key that is resistant to cracking, which will help to keep the secrecy of the vote and make it impossible to personalize the voter who cast his vote.

The CEC is confident that the transition to electronic andmobile voting will save budget funds (we are talking about amounts up to 100 million hryvnia per election campaign), as well as significantly reduce the risks associated with the rigging of election results. In addition, it will make unnecessary absentee ballots and the entire infrastructure related to them unnecessary - it will be possible to vote, regardless of where the voter will be on the day (or rather, on the eve) of the elections. Another advantage of e-voting is called instant tallying of the results - the winner’s name will be known immediately after the closure of offline polling stations, and all 100% of the votes cast via the Internet will be counted.