Estonia tests world first internet election, Voters select the "king of the forest"

[L. Coyote]

Estonia set for world first internet election
By DAVID MARDISTE - Reuters | Friday, 23 February 2007
http://www.stuff.co.nz/3970907a12.html

TALLINN: The Baltic state of Estonia plans to become the world's first country to allow voting in a national parliamentary election via the internet next month – with a little help from the forest king.

E-voting will be introduced for a parliamentary election on March 4, for the first time after it was used in more limited local elections in 2005. It is a fresh sign of Estonia's strong embrace of technology since it quit the Soviet Union in 1991.

The e-voting system was tested earlier this week, including the chance to choose the "king of the forest". Voters could pick an animal from 10 candidates, including moose, deer and boars.

"It is hard to say how many people could vote (via the internet), but 3925 people used the system over the last week, when we used different testing scenarios to vote for the king of the forest," said Arne Koitmae of the electoral commission.

......

Just under 10,000 people voted via the internet in local elections in October 2005. Computer specialists have estimated 20,000-40,000 of 940,000 registered voters will vote via the internet from February 26-28, ahead of the March 4 election day...

MORE

[xchrom]

1. oh -- i would vote for the King of the Forest.

it doesn't involve cutting him and burying him in a cornfield, does it?

[LiberalEsto]

2. If I were Queen of the Forest....

Ah, to be in the ancestral home country once again.

First on my agenda: pull all 35 Estonian soldiers out of Iraq.