uniformity in the context of voting by electronic means, is guaranteed by a system similar to the system of
two envelopes, employed upon voting outside the polling division of one's residence at advance polls. Upon
voting by electronic means a voter makes his or her choice, which shall be encoded. At the end of the voting
procedure the voter shall approve the choice by his or her digital signature, which means that personal data is
added to the encoded vote. The personal data and the encoded vote shall be stored together until the counting
of votes on the election day, with the aim of ascertaining that the person has given only one vote. The
personal data of a voter and the vote given by the voter shall be separated before the counting of votes, after
the fact that the voter has given only one vote has been checked. As it is not possible to transfer the votes
together with personal data into the computer counting the votes, the secrecy of voting is also guaranteed.
The system of electronic voting is completed, it has undergone repeated laboratory trials and was publicly
tested during a poll of inhabitants of Tallinn in January 2005.
CONTESTED PROVISIONS
13. The President of the Republic is of the opinion that it is § 15 of the Local Government Council Election
Act Amendment Act, not promulgated by him, that is in conflict with the Constitution. The provision
amends § 50 of the Local Government Council Election Act. Subsection (6) provides for the right of a voter,
during the time allocated for advance polls, to change the vote given by electronic means for unlimited
number of times. § 15 of the Local Government Council Election Act Amendment Act provides as follows:
" § 50 shall be amended and worded as follows:
"§ 50. Electronic voting
[...]
(6) A voter has the right to change the vote given by electronic means by
1) voting again electronically during the time provided for in § 44(2)3) of this Act;
2) voting by a ballot paper from the sixth to the fourth day before the election day, pursuant to procedure
provided from in §§ 46-49 or § 51 of this Act." "
OPINION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW CHAMBER
14. The President of the Republic does not contest and the Chamber shall not, in the present case, examine
the general conformity of electronic voting with the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia. According to §
50(1) of the Local Government Council Election Act all persons with the right to vote, holding a certificate
for giving a digital signature, may vote electronically via Internet on the webpage of the National Electoral
Committee at the local government council elections of 2005. On the basis of the petition of the President of
the Republic the Chamber shall review the conformity of the possibility provided for in § 15 of the contested
Act, to change one's vote, given by electronic voting, with the principle of uniformity of elections.
15. The President of the Republic is of the opinion that § 15 of the Local Government Council Election Act
Amendment Act, which supplements § 50 of LGCA with subsection (6), establishing the right of a voter to
change, during the time allocated for advance polls, the vote given by electronic means for unlimited number
of times, is in conflict with the principle of uniformity of local government council elections, established in
§ 156(1) of the Constitution. The President argues that the principle of uniformity, upon guaranteeing the
active right to vote, requires that each person with the right to vote have one vote and that all persons be
given the possibility to vote in a similar manner. This means that a voter can vote but once, that upon
counting votes his or her vote is taken into account but once and that the vote does not become distorted in
the course of voting.
16. The principle of uniformity of local government council elections is established in the second sentence