14 DAY TRIAL // A law has already been issued in Estonia, stating that all interested voters, who must first follow some simple instructions, can vote using their cellphone. As the law has already been approved, it is most likely that users could vote right away, but since the system isn't quite ready, the waiting period will be prolonged.
This is not the first time such a voting system is used, with the expected rate for success being pretty high, especially after last year's parliament mobile vote. In order to fully understand this concept, this kind of voting is done over the Internet, of course, with all mobile users provided with such access on their phone being allowed to make use of the procedure.
In any case, the procedure is not yet fully secure and developed, so it is expected that such a measure be implemented in 2011. Raul Kaidro, spokesman for the SK Certification Center, which issues personal ID cards in Estonia, stated regarding the matter that, “The mobile-voting system, which has already been tested, requires that voters obtain free, authorized chips for their phones. [...] The chip will verify the voter's identity and authorize participation in the electronic voting system.”
Disregarding the hack attacks with the previously mentioned parliament vote, which were said to be easily annihilated, in Kaidro's opinion, security issues will not represent a problem, since the system has already been tested, and is considered foolproof. Unless Finland or Sweden, countries that are regarded as fully capable of introducing such technologies, beat it to the punch, then Estonia is set to become the first country to use the mobile voting system by 2011.
Even though the materialization of this project seems very likely at the moment, there are plenty of other countries where such measures could never be implemented, unless the state were to risk a million lawsuits, as it has been reported to be most probable to happen in the States.