England's e-voting pilots announced 5 Feb
2002
The Government has announced a list of 30
councils that are to test new
methods of voting at the May 2002 local elections
Voting by telephone, digital television and the internet will be possible in
parts of England in the 2002 local council elections. The Government
announced on 5 February 2002 that 30 councils will test new methods of
voting, including postal and electronic ballots.
Electoral wards in Liverpool and Sheffield will run trials of mobile phone
text message voting and voting through digital TV; wards in Crewe and Nantwich, St. Albans and Swindon will test internet voting from homes, local
libraries and from council run information kiosks; Camden Wandsworth,
Chester Rugby and Broxbourne will trial electronic counting. Other councils
are piloting postal ballots and extended polling hours.
Despite a note of caution from the Electoral Reform Society over e-voting in
a report published on the same day, Nick Raynsford, the minister announcing
the scheme, said the pilots marked a key milestone towards e-voting at a
general election.
"This marks an important first step towards e-voting across the country.
The
pilots will be crucial in building public confidence and testing technical
robustness to ensure that the integrity of the poll is maintained. We are
particularly keen to engage younger voters and feel these new innovations
will help," Raynsford said.
"Our aim is to learn from these pilots so we can confidently modernise our
voting arrangements - making the most of new technology so that voting is
more accessible for everyone, but at the same secure and efficient. We
propose an ever more extensive programme of pilots at future local elections to open up the possibility of an e-enabled general election some time after
2006."
The Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions received 41
bids from local authorities wanting to test new voting methods. Of the 11
unsuccessful councils, three withdrew their bids, and eight applications
were judged to fall outside the scope of what the department required.
The Electoral Commission is to give support and advice to pilot authorities
and the DTLR is contributing £3.5m for the pilots. Details of how the money
is to be allocated is being discussed with the councils and IT suppliers,
Raynsford said.
The Office of the e-Envoy and DTLR are working on policy proposals for
e-democracy and e-voting, Raynsford added. The proposals will be open for
public consultation later in 2002
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