By Andy McCue, 2 September 2005 16:00
NEWS The government has ditched plans for wide-ranging trials of internet and SMS voting next year that are supposed to pave the way for e-voting technology to be used at the next general election.
The e-voting trials were due to kick off in 2006 as part of a two-year electoral modernisation project being run by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) but a tender inviting bids from IT suppliers to run the projects next year has now been cancelled.
The ODPM said: "This notice has been cancelled as the government has decided not to invite applications to conduct electronic electoral modernisation pilots in 2006. All organisations that submitted an expression of interest in the tender have been notified of the cancellation."
The trials were scheduled to include internet, telephone, text message and digital TV voting channels, electronic polling stations and vote counting systems, voter verification technology and other electronic services to "make elections straightforward, efficient, secure and, above all, readily accessible to all electors given modern lifestyles".
The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) has now taken over lead responsibility for the electoral modernisation programme from the ODPM after a recent government reshuffle.
No-one at the DCA was immediately available for comment.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Kevin Zhao
I am wondering how they deal with the possible fraud involved in this e-vote.
Have been watching chinese idol and the show use SMS to generate public vote. There is a fraud behind for sure. but also huge revenue added to SMS service providers.
2. Graham Coles
In answer to Kevin's comment about how the government intend to deal with fraud in e-Voting, they will probably borrow a technique from the American govenment.
In other words, they won’t.
e-Voting is simply a way of reducing legitimacy of voting, unless it is backed up by a proper paper vote it is worthless.
3. Paul Malpas
If we can crack e-bankng and e-commerce, we can secure e-voting, I am sure. They should contract e-Bay to run the show!
If anything would make this fail it would be paranoia over fraud, and the convoluted systems that would be necessary to be put in place to satisfy the doubters. Such systems would be more likely to put many users off - witness the process of filing self-assessment tax returns on-line.
There seems to be an inertia amongst local political activists who seem to see the polling station experience as part of the process. This, I think, is a skeweed view from the position of dedicated enthusiasts, whereas the target audience for creating greater participation does not fall into this category. I say bring the national election process to the nation!
4. Mike
There are two types of fraud which are reduced by requiring attendance at a polling station (Although it would be better if some form of identification were required):
Impersonation of a voter and
Intimidation.
Electronic voting at the polling station could eliminate spoilt papers, make it harder for voting papers to appear from nowhere, and facilitate "fairer" voting systems like the single transferable vote. It might also speed up counts and reduce the cost.
It would still be necessary for voters to present themselves to the polling officer, who would give them a (bar coded?) token to enter into the machine. Tokens issued and votes counted would need to be reconciled.
5. Andrew Flack
Ok so if I want to 'disenfranchise' a locality I have a choice, Hit the power, so everyone is powered-out, Hit the convenient little green boxes full of wires if I just want to knock out a street or 2, Cut the lines from a pole, for a more specific action.
Of course this would only be really worthwhile in a marginal seat, but it could be easier than hijacking postal votes and a lot easier than misplacing a ballot box.
If Government really wants 'the people' to show an interest in politics then bring in PR so every vote counts, and then count every vote. Maybe that is finally a legitimate use for the National ID card they are so keen on.
6. Alvin Finch
It is perhaps not surprising that the Government has abandoned Electronic Voting. This Government's obsession with electoral modernisation has already compromised Britain's traditional reputation for free and fair elections. The postal voting debacle in particular has undermined the integrity of the system and public confidence in it.
All the problems that one gets with postal votes would apply to the issuing of PIN numbers etc in the electronic case. Our democratic legitimacy derives from individual citizens' belief that their system is fair and secure.
The proposals tied in with e-voting to collect signatures and dates of birth would be an improvement, but there would still remain no independent verification of the existence of those on the electoral register.
We must protect people's right to vote in person and in secret. The current imperative is to restore confidence, integrity and accountability to British democracy
Outside of any debate on e-voting further measures that could be taken include:
The abolition of all-postal voting in any future election.
Requiring National Insurance numbers to register to vote and to vote by post.
Tighter controls on foreign citizens, like asylum seekers, from abusing the electoral register.
Ensuring any future election ‘pilot’ schemes have explicit Parliamentary authorisation.
Removing obstacles to members of the Armed Forces from registering and voting.
A fixed electoral quota for Parliamentary boundaries, to end the current urban bias.