*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** *** New! Discuss Posts - http://e-democracy.org/do/discuss.html ***
First the real lesson - "Postal voting increases turnout by 28%" http://society.guardian.co.uk/localgovelections/story/0,8150,709287,00.html Now three useful articles... From: http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/features/story.jsp?story=294585 Electrical register The rise in voter apathy is damaging to the health of democracy. But is the remedy, asks Wendy Grossman, to use the latest technology to make it easier to cast your vote? 13 May 2002 It's the modern fix: if something isn't working, throw some technology at it. Accordingly, on 2 May, when the country went to the polls, voters in selected wards of Liverpool and Sheffield were allowed to vote by several new means: SMS text via mobile phone, over the internet, via landline telephone (Liverpool), and via public information kiosk (Sheffield). The technology for these trials was supplied by BT working in conjunction with the US company Election.com, and the results are feeding into a worldwide open standard for electronic voting systems. Judging by both Liverpool and Sheffield, the trials were successful. Certainly, voter turnout was up in the wards where electronic systems were in place. In the Church ward of Liverpool as many as 41.1 per cent of those who voted did so by non-traditional means, and turnout increased from 24.52 per cent in the 2000 elections to 36.45 per cent in this one. What's surprising is that of the new methods offered, text messaging seems to have been the least popular, capturing from 6.3 to 8.1 per cent in Liverpool (as compared with more than 17 per cent for internet and "fixed" telephone). But did turnout increase in any permanent fashion or is the increase just a reaction to the novelty of the new systems? David Henshaw, Liverpool Council's chief executive, while pleased with the results, says that despite these figures, "It's not clear what that has to do with increasing the engagement of voters with democracy". ... end of clip ... See: http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/features/story.jsp?story=294585 From: http://www.networknews.co.uk/Analysis/1131765 Electronic ballots meet with limited success Paul Allen [14-05-2002] Councils and vendors have been assessing the impact of electronic voting technology in the recent council elections - following a mixed response from voters. Trials in Liverpool and Sheffield produced encouraging results, but nationwide the picture was generally disappointing, with turnouts in some areas down. A spokesman for Election.com, which managed the trials alongside BT, said leaving the window of opportunity open for longer would encourage wider use on voting by phone, internet and text message. "In Liverpool and Sheffield people were allowed a week to vote." John Stevens, BT's e-democracy project manager, said the technology had stood up well. Voters were sent a PIN and password slip, which was kept under a foil layer. "You would have to scratch off the foil, and this prevented tampering before passwords were received by voters." The cards were posted in sealed envelopes, unlike traditional ballot cards. ... end clip ... And <http://www.voxpolitics.com> popped up this one: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,9174,720814,00.html Report urges lessons in e-voting Staff and agencies Thursday May 23, 2002 There is public support for the idea of internet and phone voting, but the government must help to educate those electors who are less confident with new technology if an electronic general election is to go ahead, a report backed by ministers claimed today. The findings from Leicester's De Montfort university back up the government's policy of trialling e-voting in local elections, adding that the best way forward is "multichannel" voting, where people can cast their ballot in a range of ways that include the traditional polling station and ballot box. Electronic voting was used for the first time in this year's council elections, and scored some minor successes in raising turnout. All-postal voting proved far more popular, almost doubling turnout in some areas. ... end clip ... *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. ***
