Wednesday, September 07, 2005
No more experiments?
Plans by the Government to try and revive democracy by replacing ballot boxes with online e-elections have been abandoned. The change of heart came after trials of e-voting in local council elections showed systems were expensive, unreliable and open to abuse.
Is this a u-turn forced on the government by the abuse their so-called reforms have attracted? Let us hope so. In the meantime if they really want to increase turnouts and encourage better engagement with the electorate then they might want to consider introducing the single transferable vote method of proportional representation for all Elections.
Is this a u-turn forced on the government by the abuse their so-called reforms have attracted? Let us hope so. In the meantime if they really want to increase turnouts and encourage better engagement with the electorate then they might want to consider introducing the single transferable vote method of proportional representation for all Elections.
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Just on the turnout issue it is worth noting that in Northern Ireland both the 2001 and 1997 local elections were held on the same day as the General Election and people were asked to complete two ballot papers, one with a cross and one by numbering candidates in order of preference. There was little difference in turnout – the turnout was 68.2% for Parliament compared to 66% for the Town Hall. In England on 7 June 2001 local elections were also held on the same day as the General Election. In this instance the turnout for the National election was 59.4% compared to 62.1% for the local vote.
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