Smartvote

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Smartvote
languages German , Italian , Romansh , English
operator Politools Association
On-line - (currently active)
https://www.smartvote.ch/

Smartvote is a Swiss online voting advice application similar to the Stemwijzer in the Netherlands or the Wahl-O-Mat in Germany . In Switzerland smartvote offers its services since 2003; since 2005 in cooperation with local partners also in other countries (e.g. Bulgaria , Luxembourg , Austria ). The platform Wahlhilfe.li, which was launched for the first time for the Liechtenstein state elections on February 5, 2017, provided smartvote with the IT infrastructure.

functionality

The way smartvote works is very similar to that of other online voting aids. On the basis of a standardized questionnaire of 30 to 75 questions on political issues, smartvote voters can create their own profile. This profile is then compared with the previously recorded profiles of candidates and parties. In contrast to other online voting aids, the candidates' answers to the smartvote questionnaire come from the candidates themselves. At the end, the voter is presented with a list of candidates or parties (lists) on which they are presented in descending order according to their agreement with listed in the voter's profile. The Euclidean distance serves as the matching algorithm between the profiles of the voters and the candidates or parties . The methodological basis regarding the calculation of the agreement values ​​and graphic evaluations are made transparent on the smartvote website.

history

Smartvote was offered for the first time on the occasion of the Swiss parliamentary elections in 2003 as an aid in decision-making and was immediately used by a broad audience. Since 2004, smartvote has also offered its services for cantonal and communal elections. By 2015, smartvote had been used in around 150 elections in Switzerland alone. Although smartvote initially met with skepticism from Swiss politicians, the political profiles of most Swiss parliament members can still be found on smartvote today . The 2007 parliamentary elections made smartvote the most important reference for the political positioning of politicians and candidates in the Swiss public. On the occasion of the parliamentary elections in 2011 , 85% of the candidates created a smartvote profile, while the voters used smartvote around 1.2 million times (which is not to be equated with individual persons due to multiple use). According to the results of the official Swiss election study Selects, around 15% of voters in 2011 used smartvote as a decision-making aid. In the period from 2005 to 2013, smartvote and its use by candidates and voters was also approved as part of a project by the National Research Competence Center “Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century” (“NCCR Democracy”) at the Competence Center for Public Management at the University of Bern and on Researching IDHEAP at the University of Lausanne.

Development and sponsorship

The development of smartvote began in 2001 as a private project with the aim of providing the electorate with transparent and independent information. The first publicly visible version was created in 2003 in cooperation with the web agency MySign. Since January 2004 smartvote has been operated by Politools (Politools - Political Research Network) - a politically and denominationally independent association within the meaning of Art. 60 ff. ZGB based in Bern. Smartvote was developed with the specific characteristics of the Swiss voting system in mind. Hence it differs from v. a. in the following points from other online voting aids:

  • Since the Swiss electoral system is strongly oriented towards candidates (open lists), smartvote also focuses on comparing voters and candidates, while online voting aids abroad mostly focus on comparing voters and parties.
  • With up to 75 questions, the smartvote questionnaire is significantly longer than with other comparable tools. This in turn is a consequence of the electoral system, since comparisons with e.g. T. more than 800 candidates per constituency must be allowed.
  • Since not all parties in all constituencies are running for election, smartvote offers the comparison specifically for each constituency. This means that voters can compare themselves with parties or candidates who are actually up for election in a constituency.
  • In addition to the comparison in the form of a ranking, smartvote also attaches great importance to visualizations of the position comparisons, e.g. B. by means of profile graphics for eight political subject areas (so-called smartspider profiles) or the location of the positions on a two-dimensional political map.

See also

literature

Web links

Footnotes and Sources

  1. ↑ smartvote: General Terms of Use (GTC) of the online voting aid smartvote. November 2014, accessed September 10, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Smartvote online voting aid , accessed on February 17, 2015
  3. ↑ http://www.wahlhilfe.li/
  4. ↑ See http://www.wahlhilfe.li/ueber-uns/ and generally to wahlhilfe.li : Berno Büchel: Finally digital election help! Guest comment . Lie time No. 50, November 2016.
  5. ↑ eDemocracy in Switzerland: Smartvote - an experience report , accessed on February 17, 2015
  6. ↑ Swiss election study Selects , accessed on February 17, 2015
  7. ^ NCCR Democracy , accessed February 17, 2015
  8. ↑ Politools - Political Research Network , accessed on February 17, 2015