Swiss e-vote snafu leaves 2,048 ballots unreadable • The Register

A Swiss e-voting pilot in Basel-Stadt has suffered a major malfunction, leaving 2,048 electronic ballots unreadable after USB keys failed to decrypt the votes. The incident, which occurred during national referendums on March 8, has prompted the canton to suspend its e-voting trial and launch both an external technical analysis and criminal proceedings.

The problem emerged when officials discovered they could not access the encrypted votes collected through the electronic system. According to Basel-Stadt spokesperson Marco Greiner, three USB sticks containing the correct decryption codes were all tried, but none worked. "Three USB sticks were used, all with the correct code, but none of them worked," Greiner told Swissinfo.

The e-voting pilot was available to approximately 10,300 Basel-Stadt residents living abroad and 30 people with disabilities. While officials encouraged affected voters to submit paper ballots at the town hall or use polling stations, they acknowledged this would not be feasible for many participants, particularly those living overseas.

By the close of polling on Sunday, the system had collected 2,048 electronic votes that remain inaccessible. Basel-Stadt officials emphasized that these votes represented less than 4 percent of total votes cast in the canton and would not have altered any referendum outcomes. However, the incident has raised serious questions about the reliability of electronic voting systems.

The canton has delayed confirmation of voting figures until March 21 and suspended its e-voting pilot until at least the end of December. Additionally, the public prosecutor's office has initiated criminal proceedings to investigate the malfunction.

This incident highlights the ongoing challenges facing electronic voting implementations worldwide. Switzerland had previously attempted to establish e-voting but scrapped those efforts in 2019 after security researchers identified vulnerabilities in the software source code. The country is now running small-scale pilots in four of its 26 cantons, primarily aimed at helping citizens living abroad participate in elections without the delays associated with postal voting.

Importantly, the Federal Chancellery confirmed that e-voting in three other cantons - Thurgau, Graubünden, and St Gallen - along with the nationally used Swiss Post e-voting system, remained unaffected by the Basel-Stadt failure.

The referendums themselves addressed significant issues, including two questions about cash availability. Nearly three-quarters of Swiss voters approved a government proposal to constitutionally enshrine the Swiss National Bank's mandate to supply physical cash and maintain the Swiss franc, while a similar proposal from campaigners was narrowly rejected. This occurred despite Switzerland having one of Europe's lowest levels of cash usage, with only 30 percent of physical transactions involving notes or coins in 2024.

The Basel-Stadt incident serves as a stark reminder of the technical and logistical challenges inherent in electronic voting systems, particularly when they involve complex encryption and decryption processes that must function flawlessly to ensure democratic participation.