Testing will run from May 20-22, and is being conducted by the Information System Authority (RIA) together with the State Electoral Office (RVT), according to a press release.

While the app is not currently tied to any real election, participants will be invited to cast a mock vote by choosing a historical event in Estonia they would like to travel back in time to experience.

According to Alo Einla, director of the Elections Infosystems Department at RIA, the technical solution for mobile phone voting is largely in place already, but the next step is to put it through public testing.

"The aim of public testing is to assess the app's reliability, user-friendliness and functioning of the vote collection service," Einla said. "Testing is a natural part of development, and may also reveal issues we can identify and fix. We want to ensure everything in the app works as expected."

RVT director Arne Koitmäe said the results of this public testing will also help determine whether the mobile online voting option should be introduced more widely.

"The Riigikogu established the legal basis for enabling e-voting on mobile devices last year," Koitmäe noted. "Now we want to see how the app prototype performs across different devices, and what the user experience is like — something we'll also be asking testers for feedback on."

Following the testing phase, the National Electoral Committee (VVK) will evaluate whether the solution is compliant with election law and core electoral principles, and decide whether it can be approved for use in actual elections.

The prototype mobile phone app functions the same way as the current desktop application for online voting already in use in Estonia for the past two decades.

Android, iOS app testing starts Tuesday

To take part in the public testing, participants must be at least 15 years old and have a smartphone running either iOS or Android with the latest software and security updates installed.

Electronic identification via ID card, Mobile-ID or Smart-ID is required to log in and sign the vote.

After submitting a vote, users will be shown a link to a user experience feedback survey, which will also be available on the elections website valimised.ee throughout the testing period.

After voting, participants can also verify that their vote was successfully submitted by scanning a QR code shown in the app using the separate "EH kontrollrakendus" vote verification app on a second smart device.

The mobile voter apps for iOS and Android will be available for testing at valimised.ee starting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 20, and remain accessible through 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 22.

Detailed testing instructions will also be published on valimised.ee shortly before the start of the testing period.

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