E-counting under scrutiny in election shambles

The Electoral Commission is undertaking a full review of the elections in Scotland, with the electronic counting process, the high number of rejected ballots and the arrangements for postal voting all under scrutiny.

The Scotland Office said "e-counting" in the election had worked well in a number of areas and added that where counts have been completed the results are accurate and final.

But it said "serious technical failures have arisen to delay the announcement of results" in various places, adding: "We share the public's concern about the high number of rejected ballot papers." According to a BBC report, seven counts were suspended and up to 100,000 ballot papers were spoilt.

Behavioural Psychologist Catriona Campbell said the voting process was also too complicated and led to unnecessarily spoiled papers.

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Campbell, who runs usability consultancy Foviance, said voters had difficulty with two separate ballot papers.

She said: "No one explained the process, so voters were rating all 10 candidates, when they only needed to rate the candidates they actually wanted to vote for, which slowed up proceedings.

"Some voters rated two candidates in the same party as their first choice, which meant their ballot paper was officially spoilt."