Funferal

Electronic Voting suspended – will not be used in June

The Commission on Electronic Voting has issued its first report as many of you will have heard. Based on the report the government has announced that electronic voting will not be used in the June elections. This is indeed a victory for those of us calling opposing the proposed system, but we should be wary of being complacent. We will be issuing a more detailed, and considered, statement shortly, but would draw attention to the following points in the meantime:

• The Commission’s terms of reference were so narrow that they did not feel themselves able to consider the arguments for a VVAT, one of the main potential safeguards identified.
• More generally, the Commission, in examining solely the level of secrecy and accuracy in the Nedap/Powervote system were not able to examine other costs and benefits of electronic voting (though it is strange that they brought attention to their belief that electronic voting would result in savings, something that is disputed). Our position would be that the case for electronic voting, as opposed to the current system, or other alternatives, has not been proven. There are often presumptions relating to impact on turnout, and usability, but these tend to be ill-founded.
• The system has merely been suspended, not withdrawn permanently. Our campaign is not over.
• We have received some strong comments from our members calling for the resignation of Martin Cullen. There seem to be some good grounds for this, given his hard-headed technophilia even now.