The election information system
The election information system (VIS) enables registering candidates, determining election results and participation in the elections, and sharing the information with the public.
VIS is a tool for the organisers of elections and an underlying system for organising elections. It is prepared to support three different types of legally stipulated national elections and referendums.
The contracting authority for the development and the main user of the system is the State Electoral Office. During the election period, the main users of the system will be candidates, representatives of political parties and election coalitions, and the staff of polling stations.
During national elections, the load on the system will be quite high. There may be up to almost 5,000 organisers of the elections and the number of the candidates may vary from one or two to up to 15,000 in local government elections. Hypothetically, anyone living in Estonia who is not subject to any restrictions arising from the type of election and the law can become a user of the system.
The aim of RIA is to ensure constant development of the election information system and satisfaction of the contracting authority and the users. We also organise the administration and hosting of the information system.
VIS is used for:
- parliament elections
- local government elections
- European Parliament elections
- referendums
I-voting
The results of i-voting are also imported to the election information system (VIS). An electronic voting system (EHS) has been set up to collect i-votes. It is worth noting that EHS and VIS are different systems. The results of i-voting are imported from the EHS into the election information system, added to the results of paper voting, and that is how the final election result is calculated.
The aim of RIA is to ensure constant development of the electronic voting system and satisfaction of the contracting authority and the users. We also organise the administration and hosting of the information system.
RIA is organising, in cooperation with the State Electoral Office, the process of i-voting, providing the hardware and software required for the collection of the Internet votes. RIA is also responsible for the information security of the elections, testing the election information systems, protecting them against potential attacks, and training candidates and campaign teams.
M-voting
RIA stands for voters having more options for devices to use for voting. The use of smart devices is constantly increasing and they will be able to be used for voting in the future. For voters, this means that they no longer need to have a computer to vote electronically, but can also use a smartphone or tablet, for example.
Last updated: 08.01.2026
