The Internet has revolutionised communication, but presently there are very strong arguments of
electoral legislation and practice against casting votes online in Bundestag or European elections.
Above all, it has to be considered that at least at the time being the constitutional
principles of electoral legislation, that is general, free and secret elections, cannot be
sufficiently guaranteed in an Internet election. Though it seems possible from the aspect of
information technology in particular to maintain the secrecy of online voting, this would require a
disproportionate effort and, considering the state of the art of technology, rules out the use of
private PCs.
The casting of votes and the establishment of the election result would become
non-transparent and be beyond the control of those entitled to vote to an extent which would
undermine the electorate’s confidence in the proper conduct of the election. At present, checking
mechanisms which can be understood by those entitled to vote – like obtaining ocular evidence by
watching the votes being counted in the polling station – are presently not in sight for Internet
processes.
However, in its Decision of 3 March 2009 (ref. nos.: 2 BvC 3/07 and 2 BvC 4/07), the Federal
Constitutional Court did not, in principle, rule out Internet elections.
