The next municipal election will not mark the introduction of Internet voting in Quebec. Due to a lack of bidders capable of meeting the criteria of its call for tenders launched in the fall, Élections Québec announced on Thursday the end of its pilot project.
“In October 2023, we launched a call for tenders aimed at acquiring an Internet voting solution,” the organization writes on its website. None of the three suppliers who bid were able to meet our needs. This call for tenders was therefore canceled, as was the pilot project. »
Élections Québec wanted the Internet voting platform to be reliable, secure and accessible. The organization relied on an experienced company that already had experience in Internet voting.
This was to offer several guarantees to ensure the integrity of the result, in particular using “the highest cryptographic standards” and “encryption methods which guarantee the secrecy of the vote. »
Twenty-one municipalities, including Montreal, Laval and Quebec, were to serve as test beds for the pilot project from 2025. They had responded to a call for interest launched by Élections Québec which had exceeded the expectations of the organization itself. -even.
In all, 300,000 voters were expected to vote via the Internet in the next municipal election, or approximately 4% of the total electorate in Quebec.
In January, Élections Québec reported that the call for tenders had attracted three multinationals, the Spanish Scytl as well as the Americans Smartmatic and Voatz. All claimed extensive experience in Internet elections.
The contract was to be concluded “before the summer”, indicated Julie Saint-Arnaud Drolet, spokesperson for Élections Québec, but the organization responsible for the Quebec electoral process still reserved the right to cancel the experiment if no submission failed to meet its criteria.
The efforts undertaken have cost approximately $150,000 to date, most of which is due to travel, salaries and entertainment costs for staff dedicated to the pilot project.
This is only a postponement
Élections Québec is now looking towards the 2029 municipal election to, perhaps, entrench Internet voting. “It’s only a postponement: one day, we believe that it will establish itself here,” said Julie Saint-Arnaud on Thursday. Until then, we will continue to monitor market developments and evaluate our opportunities. We are now looking towards November 2029.”
The precise reasons justifying the scrapping of the pilot project remain confidential under the law surrounding calls for tenders in Quebec. Élections Québec specifies, however, that this is not a question of financing: the costs of the various submissions suited the allocated budget.
“We had very high requirements in terms of security and reliability of the vote,” recalls the spokesperson for Élections Québec, “and we wanted a solution adapted to the particularities of the Quebec electoral model. We must not forget that the objective of our approach was to lay the foundations to eventually allow Internet voting during general elections. »
The risks of foreign interference, which are making headlines these days in Canada in the context of the Hogue commission, and the challenges to the electoral integrity of the last presidential election in the United States, confirm the relevance of having established the highest standards in terms of security, in the eyes of Élections Québec.
“The decision to end the pilot project clearly indicates our commitment to the integrity of our elections,” concludes Julie Saint-Arnaud. We do not want to compromise on these issues. »