Testing and development of the e-election solution – status

All trial municipalities have participated or will participate in testing the e-election solution by carrying out electronic elections for youth councils or advisory referendums before the summer. The electronic ballots in the municipalities constitute an important stage in the development of the e-election solution towards the municipal council and county council elections in the autumn. Testing remains to be carried out in two municipalities.

What is being tested?

The e-election solution, which is used for online elections, is an integrated part of the new election administrative support system under development by EDB ErgoGroup and Spanish subcontractor Scytl. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development owns the solution, and specifies and tests this in cooperation with the trial municipalities. The election administrative support system will, among other things, be used by the municipalities to process list proposals, check off constituents on the electoral roll, scan paper ballots, count ballots and report the results to Statistic Norway's election result database. It is thus functionality in both the e-election solution, which is used for online elections, and in the election administrative support system that is being tested in the trial municipalities. The further the development phase proceeds, the more functionality is tested.

Early version of the e-election solution

Early versions of the e-election solution were tested in six of the trial municipalities in the autumn. Not all of the functionality in what is considered to be the final e-election solution was tested during this phase. The ballots were primarily carried out as online elections, but in Sandnes municipality those qualified to vote could also use paper ballots.

In February of this year Tynset municipality held a referendum on city status, and in March Radøy held a referendum on municipal structure. The municipalities of Bremanger and Re will hold their referendums in April and May respectively. The referendums are advisory, cf. The Local Government Act section 39b.

Testing of practically complete solution

The referendum in Radøy municipality was the first test of paper and online elections in a controlled environment (at the polling station), in addition to online elections outside the polling station. Electronic checking off of the electoral roll is new functionality in the election administrative support system, and was tested when voting at the polling stations.

Polling cards with return codes

Before the election went ahead, Radøy constituents received polling cards with return codes that were unique to each individual constituent. When the constituents voted, they received a return code (by text message for those who voted outside of the polling stations and on screen for those who voted at polling stations) they could use to compare with the code on the polling card and thus check that the ballot was registered and correctly recorded.

The return code solution has been specially developed for Norway and was tested for the first time in Radøy. In addition to providing security to the constituents, the return codes make it impossible to manipulate ballots without this being discovered by constituents or the electoral authorities.

MinID for logging on

The e-election solution uses the public ID service MinID for logging on when voting online outside of a polling station. MinID is a personal electronic ID, which may be used to submit one's tax return form, obtain access to self-service services at Nav.no, apply for loans and grants from the State Educational Loan Fund, and for a number of other public services.

Everyone who wants to vote online outside of a polling station must be registered as a MinID user and register their mobile phone numbers there. More on MinID and how MinID works.

In the case of the referendums in Tynset and Radøy, the municipalities chose to send MinID codes to all qualified constituents who had not registered their mobile phone numbers with MinID. It is uncertain whether this measure will be implemented during this autumn's municipal council and county council elections.

Overview of referendums and elections in trial municipalities:

Municipality and no. entitled to vote	Subject	Online/ paper ballot	Election period	Participation
Ålesund: 3,378 entitled to vote	Youth council election	Online voting outside of polling station	15 October - 18 October 2010	5.1%
Bodø: 4,163 entitled to vote	Youth council election	Online voting outside of polling station	25 October - 27 October 2010	5.1%
Sandnes: 1,815 entitled to vote	Vote on establishing city park at bus station.  (Students in 9th and 10th grade were entitled to vote)	Online voting outside of polling station and paper ballots	2 November - 5 November 2010. In addition there was a separate election day with paper ballots on 8 November 2010.	Total 41.1%, whereof: Advance (paper): 21.3% Polling day (paper): 14.5% Online voting: 5.2%
Mandal: 11,525 entitled to vote	Referendum on name of new bridge	Online voting outside of polling station	10 November - 11 November 2010	2.3%
Vefsn: 10,952 entitled to vote	Referendum on traffic routing	Online voting outside of polling station	22 November - 25 November 2010	Approx. 4,9 % Question 1: 536 votes Question 2: 532 votes Question 3: 531 votes
Hammerfest: 7,839 entitled to vote	Referendum on traffic routing	Online voting outside of polling station	30 November - 1 December 2010	Approx. 2.4% Question 1: 187 votes Question 2: 187 votes
Tynset: 4,259 entitled to vote	Referendum on city status for Tynset	Online voting outside of polling station	15-17 February 2011	21.4 %
Radøy: 3,741 entitled to vote	Referendum on whether the municipality should en merge into a new municipality in Nordhordland	Online voting in and outside of polling station and paper ballots in polling station	4 - 7 March 2011	Total: 21% Online election: 18.5% (i.e. 88.5% electronic votes)
Bremanger: 322 entitled to vote	Vote on reasons to return to the municipality following completion of education. (Students in secondary and upper secondary schools are entitled to vote)	Online election outside of polling station	5 - 7 April 2011	Total: 52%
Re: 6 930 entitled to vote	Referendum on whether the municipality actively should take the initiative to/work toward a new municipal merger process in the next 4-year period	Online voting in and outside of polling station and paper ballots in polling station	13 May - 19 May 2011	Total: 9.2% 63.4% electronic votes