An e-voting pilot in Basel-Stadt made headlines after it was hit by a technical glitch on 8 March. The canton was unable to count 2,048 votes from Swiss Abroad and people with physical and/or mental impairments, because the relevant code failed to decrypt the digital ballot box that contained these votes. The contents of this ballot box remained blocked – and were not included in the vote count (see “Swiss Review” 2/2026). However, this had no tangible effect on the overall results, given that none of the votes were tight.
The Basel-Stadt cantonal chancellery and the Federal Chancellery (FCh) immediately put out statements saying that the e-voting system itself was not the cause of the problem. In the other pilot cantons of St Gallen, Thurgau and Grisons, all e-votes had been counted without a hitch. It was only in Basel where an issue prevented access via a USB stick. The process may have been handled incorrectly, say experts. An external analysis will aim to find out precisely what happened.
Basel-Stadt has suspended its e-voting pilot until the end of this year. The other three cantons trialled e-voting again on the latest voting Sunday (14 June 2026) after reviewing their processes for decrypting digital ballot boxes. These cantons also employed other means of data storage besides USB sticks. The Federal Chancellery had given them the green light to conduct further pilots, saying it was “highly unlikely” that there would be another glitch like the one in Basel-Stadt.
Public confidence “broken”
Nevertheless, the mishap refuels a debate that has been ongoing in Switzerland for over 20 years. Critics of online voting feel vindicated. “There are too many risks,” says Rahel Estermann, co-head of the Swiss non-profit civil rights and consumer protection organisation Digital Rights. Especially given the high security standards that elections and popular votes must meet, she adds. Not only does voting confidentiality need to be maintained, but it must be possible to trace votes individually and verify the overall result. According to Estermann, fulfilling these three requirements at the same time is almost impossible from a technical standpoint. All it takes is a minor issue for the result of an entire vote to lose credibility. The incident in Basel caused considerable damage, political scientist Michael Herrmann told SRF. “It has broken public confidence and sets the whole process back years.” There was anger from Swiss who live abroad. One woman in France said she had been deprived of casting her vote. “We have fought long and hard for this right.” And now this.
Supporters of online voting also agree that the right to participate must be safeguarded, but argue that the trials, which began in 2023, have gone well over the course of 300 different votes. The right lessons now need to be learned, so that the glitch ultimately helps to improve the system. The canton of Lucerne also wants to pilot e-voting, starting in September this year.
Thanks to e-ID, which the electorate narrowly endorsed in September 2025, e-voting could one day go completely digital. E-ID should be available from 1 December 2026. The federal government originally wanted to roll it out this summer but is now introducing further data privacy and security measures after the Swiss Federal Audit Office expressed misgivings.
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