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Constitutional Parameters for e-Voting in Germany

Cyber Politics
Democracy
Elections
Government
Political Participation
Voting
Thomas Weiler
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Thomas Weiler
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

Abstract

As voter-turnout is declining, politicians in Germany are looking at new and innovative methods to increase participation in elections and other forms of political participation. The leaders of the main parliamentary fractions in the Federal Parliament Bundestag have introduced the concept of e-voting as one possible solution, the State Chamber (Landtag) in Schleswig-Holstein is debating e-voting and online-voting as one method to mitigate the problem. Electronic voting was used on a wide scale in the general election in Germany in 2005, but the specific method used was declared unconstitutional in 2009 by Germany`s Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). After this ruling, no further attempts have been made by governmental agencies in this area, but there have been some theoretical approaches and the University of Jena allowed e-voting in the election for student council. Electronic voting is also to be used in the upcoming elections for representatives of social security institutions and insurances no later than 2023. Various issues remain with e-voting, however, mostly pertaining to security matters (possible fraud, authentication of voters, denial-of-service etc.), transparency of the election process and acceptance by voters. It is also unclear whether turnout will really be strengthened by new way of voting. The paper will show the current situation of e-voting in Germany, what standards have to be kept according to the Constitution to conduct legal e-voting, and how e-voting could feasibly be used in elections in Germany in the future. It will furthermore discuss current proposals from the political arena and research done into this subject.