UK’s pilot voting schemes hailed as success

Voter apathy was a hallmark of the recent elections, as only a third of the electorate turned to cast their votes, but various pilot voting schemes have been hailed as a success.

While the figures for the all-postal ballots are not yet available, in 28 out of the 33 pilots, the average turnout was just under 50%, compared with a general turnout of 33%.

In addition to postal voting the other pilot schemes, which had been in operation during yesterday's elections, included voting by digital TV, via the internet, text messaging and by touch telephone.

The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesperson said: “Everyone recognised that there was a challenge for democracies the world over to increase voter turnout. We were obviously looking at a number of different ways to reinvigorate democracy. The results we had so far were clearly encouraging.”

According to preliminary results, in the 59 local authorities where there had been a choice, some 15% of voters had used one of these methods to cast their vote.

However, Internet think-tank the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) warned that electronic voting systems such as those being trialled in the local government elections may lead to major problems, and could severely damage the public's confidence in the electoral process.

The FIPR said it would be vital for the democratic process that UK government plans to introduce e-voting in the general election after next be carried out in a safe and secure way that commands the trust of the UK's voters.

FIPR Director Dr. Ian Brown said: "We don't think voters should need a PhD to understand the security of our voting system. The only safe way to allow electronic voting is through machines controlled by election officials that produce an auditable paper trail. Anything else is an invitation for fraud to hackers and virus writers around the world, and could destroy public confidence in our elections."

In December last year, Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford announced that, following consultation with the Electoral Commission, a limited number of local authorities have been granted applications to hold all-postal and other forms of electoral voting pilots during the May 2003 local elections.

(SP)