Finnish voting machines lose 2 percent of votes cast

In the municipal elections in Finland on October 26, electronic voting systems were used in some municipalities. It now appears that votes were lost, which has consequences for the result of the elections.

The relevant elections took place on 26 October. Electronic voting computers were used in three Finnish municipalities as part of a pilot. The reactions to the use of the voting computers were mostly positive, thus the Ministry of Justice. However, further research showed that the voting computers were not easy to use for everyone. In 232 cases, a voting process was started, but not completed. This means that 232 persons, which corresponds to two percent of the electorate, did not vote.

To be able to use the voting computer, it was necessary to insert a smart card into the computer for identification. After this, the desired candidate could be selected, after which ‘Ok’ had to be pressed twice. The smart card could then be removed. However, some voters removed the smart card after the first ‘Ok’: because the system did not respond quickly enough, the voters mistakenly believed that the voting process was complete. As a result, their voice was lost.

The outcome of elections for the municipal council is often determined by small numbers, and the absence of these 232 votes can therefore have consequences for the final composition of the municipal councils. The 232 lost votes belong to a total of three municipalities, which reduces the potential consequences for the composition of the municipal council. Nevertheless asks the Electronic Frontier Finland for new elections in the affected municipalities, as recounting is impossible due to the lack of a paper trail. A decision on this will be made by the court.