24 May 2002
Research commissioned by the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, the Local Government Association, Solace and the Electoral Commission indicates that interest in e-voting is minimal.
But Raynsford said the findings of the report by De Montfort University, The implementation of electronic voting in the UK, conflicted with pilot e-voting schemes at the local elections on May 2. 'The argument that e-voting has no effect on turnout is unproven. Many of the pilot schemes used at the local elections were very successful,' he said.
The report indicates that the government is unlikely to fully roll-out e-voting systems until the general election after next – some time between 2008 and 2011. Public Finance has learnt that the DTLR set local authorities an initial target of 2005 for compliance with e-voting schemes, but was forced into a delay because the technology is behind schedule.
Internet and telephone voting systems piloted on May 2 had mixed results. Some schemes raised turnout by as much as 12 percentage points in cities such as Liverpool. But other pilots, for example in St Albans, had no effect.
Lawrence Pratchett, senior research fellow at De Montfort University and author of the report, said: 'The effect… is likely to be minimal. Young people, for example, are not particularly enamoured of e-voting, any more than with the political process generally.'
PFmay2002
