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Estonian Internet Voting Called a Success

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the rights-and-privileges dept.

composer314 writes "The Associated Press is reporting that the small European nation of Estonia has conducted large-scale voting over the Internet. From the article: "Last week, Estonia became the first country in the world to hold an election allowing voters nationwide to cast ballots over the internet. Fewer than 10,000 people, or 1 percent of registered voters, participated online in elections for mayors and city councils across the country, but officials hailed the experiment as a success." The system is built on Linux." I guess it works well when the Internet is considered a human right.

12 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. It's SUCH a success by ludomancer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Such a success, we got back twice as many votes as our population! We had no idea it would work so well!

  2. Isn't Estonia that "fake country" in Dilbert? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Call me a geographically challenged USA-ian, but I think this must be a hoax.
    If you read the Dilbert cartoon, Estonia is the fake country with the bearded people

    And if it were real, I'm sure I would have heard of it buy now since all the real countries have obvious names like England, Mexico, Canada, France, etc. etc.
    I actually wonder about some of those -stan prefixed former Russian countries...do they exist?

    1. Re:Isn't Estonia that "fake country" in Dilbert? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You scare me.

    2. Re:Isn't Estonia that "fake country" in Dilbert? by Savage-Rabbit · · Score: 4, Funny

      Estonia is the fake country with the bearded people.

      No thats Elbonia, and I deeply resent your ignorance we are not a fake country.

      I actually wonder about some of those -stan prefixed former Russian countries...do they exist?

      Well, the thing is those *stan countries were blasted into in orbit around Pluto by the Soviet space agency during the cold war since they proved to be a general nuisance. The only exception is Afghanistan which had to be brought down to earth a few years ago for a major overhaul due to a massive rodent infestation.

      --
      Only to idiots, are orders laws.
      -- Henning von Tresckow
    3. Re:Isn't Estonia that "fake country" in Dilbert? by pharwell · · Score: 5, Funny

      I actually wonder about some of those -stan prefixed former Russian countries...do they exist?

      Like -stanUkraine? Or -stanGeorgia? Hmm. Not sure, but I think they're fake.

      --
      I quote others only in order the better to express myself. -- Michel de Montaigne
  3. A success? With a 1% turnout? by Starker_Kull · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder what would have had to happen for it to be considered a failure.

  4. And in other news by kiore · · Score: 3, Funny

    An unprecedented write-in vote by internet users sends Kevin Mitnick to the Whitehouse.

  5. hacker voters.. by easterlingman · · Score: 3, Funny

    Were that to happen in the United States we'd get 500 million votes for Senator Linus Torvalds..

  6. Re:A success? With a 1% turnout? by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Funny

    Perhaps it displayed a snappy song-and-dance number.

    "Hey, we're Estonia,
    We like macaronia,
    And it's time to voooote!"

    That would be a success of a kind.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  7. Diebold's officials . . . by ln+-sf+head+ass · · Score: 4, Funny

    . . . downplayed reports of a test round of balloting in which tabulations resulted in George W. Bush as the winner of the election for Prime Minister of Estonia.

  8. Breaking news by No2Gates · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, on hearing of the news about Estonia's good fortune utilizing Linux for their successful voting, purchased the country. The voting is now nullified with the purchase, however all citizens who voted will be given discount coupons on purchases of any Microsoft product.

    --
    Every time you call tech support, a little kitten dies.
  9. Estonian e-voting a glowing success by IgnoramusMaximus · · Score: 3, Funny
    Estonian authorities have confirmed that the e-voting was a complete success and their faith in this 21st century solution was completely justified.

    "It was flawless", the Chief Election Commissioner said, and in apparent attempt to gloat over his critics, who were loudly warning of problems, he added: "And it proves that contrary to what those feeble Doomsayers were saying, we should not fear new technology, we should embrace it because it is new, shiny and made in America!".

    In related news, some confusion persists of the proper procedure of swearing the new Estonian President, Barney "The Pink" Dinosaur, and his vice-president Wet Noodle, both of the party "All Your Base Belong To Us". Additional complications for the traditionalists is the suprising new discoverery at the polls that apparently most Estonians turned out to be of the Jedi religion.