E-voting Online voting and elections

The Federal Act on Political Rights (PRA) gives the cantons responsibility for conducting Swiss federal votes and elections within their territory and sets out the regulatory framework for the associated process. Trials with electronic voting are governed by the Federal Act (Art 8a PRA), the Ordinance on Political Rights (Art. 27a ff. PoRO) and the Federal Chancellery Ordinance on Electronic Voting.

At the end of 2020, the Federal Council decided to realign the trial operation for e-voting. The amended Ordinance on Political Rights (PoRO) and the Ordinance on Electronic Voting (OEV) came into force on 1 July 2022. The Federal Council has granted four cantons an initial licence for the e-voting trial operation. Swiss Post’s e-voting system will be used. The e-voting trial operation is authorized until May 2025 in the Cantons of Basel-Stadt, St. Gallen and Thurgau and until March 2026 in the Canton of Graubünden.

Swiss Post’s e-voting system was used successfully for the 2023 federal elections in the Cantons of Basel-Stadt, St. Gallen and Thurgau.