Estonia to allow voting by cell phone

TALLINN, Estonia, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Estonia has become the first country in the world to allow voters to cast ballots by their cell phones.

The law adopted by the parliament takes effect for the 2011 parliamentary elections, TMC.net reported.

Estonia, a country with a total population of about 1.3 million, is already a pioneer in electronic voting. The country began supplying electronic cards to be used for online voting in 2002. By 2007, about 3.5 percent voted on line, and officials say a major reason for the low electronic turnout is that few people own the equipment required to read the electronic cards.

Officials say voting by cell phone could work out differently because the country has an extraordinarily high rate of usage. The number of phones in the country is significantly larger than the population.