Swiss SMS Vote

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Residents of the Swiss town of Bulach began casting votes on a local road speed limit measure by SMS in October 2005, in a pilot the Swiss government could decide to extend nationwide. Developed by the Canton of Zurich’s e-voting team with technical support from Unisys Corp, the system sent voters a user ID and PIN alongside their normal postal voting material, requiring an additional birth-date check for SMS votes that project leader Elisabeth Prader argued made the system harder to defraud than paper balloting, following earlier, less successful SMS voting trials in some UK towns in 2003 that were hampered by slow confirmation messages and authentication concerns.