New methodology for calculating cost-efficiency of different ways of voting: is internet voting cheaper?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Voting channels in the 2017 Estonian local elections.

Figure 2. The electoral cycle (from Krimmer et al., 2007).

Figure 3. Model of the process involved in counting internet votes.

Table 1. Transportation costs in euro.

Transportation cost pool for county centres
Process No.	Activity	Description	Price per km	Distance in km	Cost (price per km;* distance in km)
1	Delivery of equipment	In 2017 prices: 0.15 euro per km	0.15	24,273.40	3,641.46
4	Voter identification at voter’s location (home voting)		0.15	16,470	2,470.50
6	Ballots’ transportation for recounting		0.15	16,470	2,470.50
	Subtotal				8,582.46

Table 2. Calculating the labour costs for county centre voting.

Labour costs per county centre
Activity	Description	Activity	Total time in minutes per activity per all VDC*	Wages in euro per minute, including taxes	Labour cost for all VDCs (in euro)
Delivery of equipment	One member per VDC to deliver equipment	Once per election; early, advance and election day voting	7,806	0.16	1,256.88
Stamping ballots before voting	One person per VDC to stamp ballots	Once per election; early, advance and election day voting	1,168	0.16	260.44
Setting the voting place (installing voting booths, ballot boxes)	One person per VDC comes one day before the voting to set the voting place	Once per election; early, advance and election day voting	3,360	0.16	540.98

*Voting district committees.

Table 3. Comparison of costs per minute for early, advance and election day voting (costs per ballot per voting channel).

Cost per ballot calculation
	Early voting	Advance voting	Election day voting
Delivery of equipment	0.45	0.45	0.46
Stamping ballots before voting	0.26	0.26	0.28
Setting up the voting place (installing voting booths, ballot boxes)	0.26	0.26	0.28
Voter identification chairperson	0.78	0.78	0.79
Voter identification VDC	0.26	0.26	0.28
Processing of advance votes	0.36	0.36	0.29
Counting of ballots	0.26	0.26	0.28
Transportation of ballots for recounting	0.45	0.45	0.46
Recounting	0.26	0.28	0.28

Table 4. Costs for the different voting channels used in the 2017 Estonian local elections.

Cost range per ballot (in euro) for the analysed period
	Minimum	Maximum
Advance voting in county centres	5.48	5.92
Advance voting in ordinary polling stations	16.24	17.36
Early voting in county centres	5.83	6.30
Election day voting in county centres	4.97	5.58
Election day voting in ordinary polling stations	2.83	3.01
Internet voting	2.17	2.26

Table 5. Turnout distribution by voting channel in the 2017 Estonian local elections.

Turnout distribution
	%
Advance voting in county centres	3.7
Advance voting in ordinary polling stations	12.2
Early voting in county centres	4.7
Election day voting (in county centres and ordinary polling stations)	47.7
Internet voting	31.7

Krimmer, R., Triessnig, S., & Volkamer, M. (2007). The development of remote e-voting around the world: A review of roads and directions. In A. Alkassar, & M. Volkamer (Eds.), E-Voting and identity (pp. 1–15). Bochum: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77493-8_1

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