A close result is expected today for the SRG initiative.
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A USB stick paralyzes part of democracy: the canton of Basel-Stadt is unable to count 2048 valid votes today – with possible national consequences.
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Basel-Stadt is unable to count 2048 electronically cast votes today – a faulty USB stick is blocking the access code to the digital ballot box.This affects Swiss citizens living abroad and people with disabilities who voted by e-voting.If individual proposals are decided by a narrow margin, the missing votes could influence the national result – and legal complaints could follow.
At 17:08, it was official: the canton of Basel-Stadt was unable to count over 2,000 votes in today’s ballot. A technical glitch has paralyzed the electronic voting system. Swiss citizens living abroad and people with a disability who voted online are affected.
The incident is particularly bitter for them: their votes are stuck in an encrypted digital ballot box. The access code to open it is on a faulty USB stick. The State Chancellery announced on Saturday evening that the problem could not be fixed in time.
It is therefore certain that around 2000 votes will not be taken into account in today’s ballot – with potential consequences for the national result.
On the eve of voting Sunday, the Basel-Stadt State Chancellery confirmed a serious IT glitch. 2048 votes cast electronically could not be decrypted. The groups affected are those who are allowed to use e-voting in Basel-Stadt: Swiss citizens living abroad and people with disabilities.
The error, says Deputy State Secretary Marco Greiner, does not lie with Swiss Post’s e-voting system, but with the cantonal IT department.
The code required to open the digital ballot box is on a defective USB stick. Despite the support of experts from Swiss Post and the Basel police, it was not possible to recover the data. On Saturday evening, the State Chancellery discontinued its efforts.
In Basel, some voters can vote digitally.
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What does this mean for the vote?
Four national proposals are being voted on across Switzerland today – including individual taxation, the cash initiative, the SRG initiative and the climate fund initiative.
Previous votes show that close decisions are not uncommon: in 2015, the new Radio and TV Act was approved by just 3,649 votes, and in 2017 the AHV supplementary financing was approved by a difference of 2,361 votes.
If the result is similarly close this time, the 2000 uncounted e-voting votes could influence the national result. By way of comparison: when the Swiss abroad voted on the “No Billag” initiative, the proposal critical of the SRG was extremely unpopular with them – 316 “Yes” votes compared to 1589 “No” votes. That gives a No surplus of 1273 votes.
A look at the archive shows: In 2018, the Swiss abroad in Basel-Stadt voted clearly against the “No Billag” initiative.
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The Federal Chancellery has announced that it is waiting for the provisional results of all cantons before deciding on legal action.
If it turns out that the uncounted votes have actually influenced the final result, legal complaints are likely. The Federal Chancellery explained to SRF what is obvious: If a vote is decided by a particularly narrow margin, the political rights of the affected voters would be violated by the IT debacle in Basel.
In this case, not only the people affected, but legally speaking every voter could challenge the result and demand a re-run. The reason: political rights protect not only the individual right to vote, but also the right to be able to rely on democratic processes.
Whether the Basel IT problem is considered a technical incident or becomes a legal case therefore depends on how close the national vote turns out today.
How will politicians react?
SP councillor Tim Cuénod, President of the Audit Committee (GPK), expressed his dismay when asked by blue News: “It’s highly embarrassing. The canton must do everything in its power to ensure that the digital ballot box can still be opened in the next few days.” He could not estimate the chances of this happening.
SP councillor and GPK president Tim Cuénod is dismayed.
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According to Cuénod, the GPK has not yet formally intervened. But of course questions have now arisen. It was not a “trifle”, but a matter of “trust in democratic institutions”. “Something like this must never happen again,” says Cuénod.
Damage to the company’s image has been done in any case. Should it still be possible to open the electronic ballot box in the coming days and take all votes into account, there would at least be no legal problem.