An electronic referendum (or e-referendum) is a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

in which

voting Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...

is aided by electronic means. E-referendum employs

information and communication technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

such as the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

(e-voting) or digital telephones rather than a classical

ballot box A ballot box is a temporarily sealed container, usually a square box though sometimes a tamper resistant bag, with a narrow slot in the top sufficient to accept a ballot paper in an election but which prevents anyone from accessing the votes cas ...

or traditional methods system. Traditionally, e-referendums are organised by governmental bodies, but nowadays, there exist private companies that can facilitate online referendums or other types of

e-voting Electronic voting is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or handle casting and counting ballots including voting time. Depending on the particular implementation, e-voting may use standalone '' electronic voting machines'' (also ...

. An electronic referendum provides a less time-consuming option of casting a vote for citizens; it can also be performed without attending an official voting place. It has also been assumed to lead to a higher

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

and an increase in the citizens’ political engagement; however, this is not always the case. E-referendum made the referendum voting more accessible to those living abroad and to

disabled people Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

History

The Italian seaside town

Ladispoli Ladispoli is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Metropolitan City of Rome, in the Italy, Italian region of Lazio. It lies about west of Rome, on the Mediterranean Sea. History Modern Ladispoli includes the site ...

held three e-referendums in 2004 regarding the protection of

archaeological sites An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

participatory budgeting Participatory budgeting (PB) is a type of citizen sourcing in which ordinary people decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget through a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making. These processes typically begin ...

, and the involvement of immigrants in political life. It was part of "E-poll": a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

project dedicated to the experimentation of electronic voting. This project also took place in the other four Italian cities:

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

Campobasso Campobasso (, ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Molise and of the province of Campobasso. It is located in the high basin of the Biferno river, surrounded by Sannio and Matese mountains. Campobas ...

Specchia Specchia is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. Located 53 km south of the province's capital, Specchia is nestled atop the Serra Magnone, one of the highest points in lower Salento. It is one of ...

, and

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

. In the case of Ladispoli, the vote was open to all citizens and immigrants. Lately, in 2005, e-referendum was also experimented in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, the Estonian capital city. In the same year, Spain and France experienced the e-referendum, adopting the remote i-Voting and special tools, respectively.

In practice

Switzerland

Following the European experience with e-referendum. Switzerland developed different electronic voting systems, such as the Geneva E-voting System or the Zurich E-voting System. Switzerland could enable referendums via the Internet at local or federal levels.

Ireland

During the 2002 referendum on the Treaty of Nice, Ireland used electronic voting machines in seven constituencies on a trial basis. In 2004, the government abandoned its plans to introduce a nationwide electronic system after a report from the Independent Commission on Electronic Voting and Counting raised concerns about the machines' reliability and the ballot's integrity. E-voting was scrapped in 2009 when further reports confirmed issues over the reliability of the process and the difficulty of storage of the voting machines because of high costs.

Canada

The Canadian Citizens Party has propositions about referendum protocols. Canadians can establish an account and post policy recommendations on a platform. Other individuals can sign petitions linked to the recommendations through an electronic signature.{{Cite web, date=2012-11-29, title=Making policy by e-referendum, url=https://inroadsjournal.ca/making-policy-by-e-referendum/, access-date=2021-02-18, website=Inroads, language=en-US

References

Electronic voting Referendums