The Estonian government has passed legislation that will allow its citizens to vote in the country’s next parliamentary elections using a mobile device. The election – scheduled for 2011 – is on track to be the first in the world to allow mobile voting. Raul Kaidro, a spokesman for SK Certification Center, which issues personal ID cards in Estonia, told Associated Press that the system will require users to use special SIM cards that verify the voter’s identity and authorise their participation in the electronic voting system. He added that the system had already been tested using an independent security audit and is “the most secure way to authenticate digital signatures.”

The decision to allow mobile voting comes on the back of the introduction of Internet voting in Estonia’s previous election in 2007. The system was considered a success despite widespread worries at the time over hacker attacks, identity fraud and vote count manipulation. Kaidro said that he expects the 2011 mobile vote to be the first of its kind, but added that neighbouring countries such as Finland and Sweden also have the technology in place to offer a similar “cellular election.”