For the first time in the history of ‘direct democracy’ in Switzerland, residents of the small town of Bulach situated in the north of Zurich voted on local issues via SMS technology, a report from the eGovernment website of Canton Zurich said.

The pilot e-voting, which took place last Oct. 30, went well without any glitches, according to the Zurich government and the town of Bulach.

Around 455 residents, making up 12 percent of the registered voters, grabbed the opportunity to cast their votes via SMS, while 37 percent of the voters gave their votes via the Internet. The majority, though, still used the old method of voting – by means of snail mail or ballots. The issue of the initiative was about the widespread introduction of a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour. This initiative was turned down by almost two thirds of the voters.

In this pilot voting, the voters needed a PIN-code which was imprinted on the voter’s certificate under a seal. In case a seal was broken, the authorities would check if the person had already passed his or her vote in electronic form. Ninety three of such cases were checked this Sunday. In three cases, it turned out that the person had already voted via the Internet or SMS before.

The website report cited first-hand accounts of people having a hard time reading the PIN code which was printed with only little contrast for security reasons. This coming Nov. 27, the voters of Bulach, Schlieren and Bertschikon will be able to use the electronic ballots for an issue on a cantonal scale for the first time in history.