Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2008/10/27/evote_counted_out/
UK confirms e-voting death
No plans, no more trials
Posted in Legal, 27th October 2008 09:59 GMT
There are no plans to introduce e-voting in the UK, or even to conduct further pilots of the technology, a government minister has confirmed.
The government has flirted with the technology in past and claimed it could be a way to increase participation in elections.
Michael Wills, a Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice, was asked if the government planned to introduce e-voting before the local and European elections in 2009. He said last week: "The Government do not plan to introduce e-voting for the 2009 European or local elections ... The Government have no plans for further e-voting pilots in statutory elections at this stage."
The UK electoral system has come in for some heavy criticism recently - the Rowntree Reform Trust and the election commissioner both said the system is wide open to fraud.
The Trust said e-voting pilots were "extremely expensive and there is no evidence to suggest that e-voting offers any significant scope for turnout to be increased by this means" and that: "Serious concerns persist about the security and transparency of e-voting systems and their vulnerability to organised fraud."
E-voting has been heavily criticised in the US and even the electronic counting of votes in the London mayoral elections did not convince all observers. ®