In Switzerland, e-voting means voting online via the internet. E-voting is part of the strategic plan of Swiss E-Government, which entails close collaboration between the Confederation and the cantons. Since 2004, 15 cantons have offered internet voting to a limited part of their electorate in over 300 trials. The Confederation and cantons have followed the principle of ‘security before speed’. In Switzerland, e-voting is only permitted if strict requirements under federal law are met.
At the beginning of 2019, internet voting was offered in ten cantons, either to both Swiss living abroad and resident voters or restricted to voters living abroad. The cantons could choose between two systems: the system offered by the canton of Geneva and the system offered by Swiss Post.
Based on its decision of November 2018, the canton of Geneva announced in June 2019 that its system would no longer be available with immediate effect. Swiss Post announced on 5 July 2019 that their individually verifiable system would no longer be offered to the cantons. Swiss Post is developing a system with complete verifiability. Currently, no e-voting system is available in Switzerland.
At its meeting on 26 June 2019, the Federal Council instructed the Federal Chancellery to work with the cantons to redesign the e-voting trials by the end of 2020.
