The several Electoral Laws do not contemplate the possibility of electronic voting. However, electronic voting tests have already been carried out in some polling stations, and an in-person electronic voting experiment in the district of Évora.
In this regard, the Electoral Administration has integrated working groups, at national and international level, which analyse the various solutions for electronic voting, both in person and remotely, as well as elections in countries where it is already possible to vote electronically.
The first pilot experiment with electronic voting was carried out in the 1997 municipal elections, in several polling stations in a parish in Lisbon, without counting towards the official results. The system consisted of a voting machine where the ballot paper appeared. Each voter was given an electronic card reader, formatted and identified as a voting key, and empty of votes, to give them the possibility of casting a vote on the electronic machine. The vote cast was recorded on the electronic card, which could be inserted into an electronic ballot box. After being read and recorded in the memory of the ballot box, the voting information was erased, allowing the card to be used by the next voter.
In the 2001 municipal elections, some improvements were added to the system and pilot experiments were carried out for polling stations in one parish in the Lisbon district and another in the Porto district, without counting towards the official results.
In the 2004 European elections, three different electronic voting systems were tested in polling stations in nine parishes in different municipalities in various regions of the continent. In the 2005 legislative elections, technologies to support voting for citizens with special needs were used and tested on a pilot basis. An Internet voting experiment was also carried out for voters registered abroad. The votes cast in these projects also did not count towards the official results.
In the 2019 European elections, in-person electronic voting was implemented on a trial basis in the district of Évora.
Forty-seven electronic polling stations were installed in twenty-five parishes of that District in addition to the traditional polling stations, and voters could choose between voting electronically and traditionally.
This electronic voting experience was articulated with the dematerialised electoral roll, which allowed voters to vote in mobility, i.e., at any table in the district.
The in-person electronic vote was counted and counted in the final results.
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