Estonia to allow e-voting on smart devices in 2027 parliamentary election

Estonia's National Electoral Committee has agreed that voters will be able to vote electronically on a smart device, such as a mobile phone, in next year's Riigikogu (parliamentary) elections. Internet voting has been available in the country since 2005, but until now only from a computer.

Committee Chair Ingrid Kullerkann said in a statement on Thursday that most members now consider the risks "sufficiently mitigated". In her words, voting on mobile devices does not carry greater risks than voting on a computer, so the time has come for the next step in developing Estonia's digital state.

Kullerkann named accessibility and crisis resilience of elections among the reasons. She said people could vote online even if a situation like the January 2005 storm occurred, if a drone warning made leaving home inadvisable, or if the nearest polling station is several dozen kilometres away.

Apps and security

A voting app will be developed for devices running iOS and Android, available on Google Play and Apple's App Store. A separate verification app will also be offered in the stores, letting voters confirm that their vote reached the electronic ballot box and correctly reflects their choice.

Arne Koitmäe, head of the State Electoral Office, said adding operating systems does not change the e-voting system itself but widens the range of devices people can vote from. He noted that the system undergoes load, recovery and security testing every year. Voters remain free to choose paper or electronic voting, and all votes carry equal weight.

The Riigikogu approved voting on smart devices in 2024. In 2025, the State Electoral Office and the Information System Authority ran a public test covering the casting, transmission and receipt of votes. The test found the application reliable and drew positive feedback from users.