Remote Internet Voting and Increase of Voter Turnout: Happy Coincidence or Fact? The Case of Estonia

Abstract

This article aims to explain a new and recent phenomenon from the scope of political science: How does the implementation of remote internet voting (RIV) affect voter turnout in one chosen European state (Estonia) after employing e-voting on the supranational, national and local level of elections. From some point of view, Remote internet voting can have a positive effect on lowering the barriers for voting, because traditional elections using paper ballots do not meet today’s standards for many citizens. The question seems simple: Does the application of RIV create new possibilities for Estonian citizens to vote outside the polling stations thus bringing new voters to the polls in a number, that we can recognize as a significant change in the total turnout in the first and the second level elections?