Reviewing politics
and culture since 1913

  1. Politics
27 April 2007updated 27 Sep 2015 2:32am

Hanging chads go virtual

Marrying democracy to technology, well you'd expect a few teething troubles…

By Mike Butcher

The brave new world of the marrying-up of government, politics and technology continues to have a few teething troubles. A representative of electoral administrators has warned that councils could struggle to count votes in next month’s elections because of problems with untried electoral software.

A lack of proper testing means software houses have had to come up with “bolt on” systems for tracking postal votes, which makes them open to all sorts of problems.

It could be the case that legitimate votes may end up being rejected, delaying the count as returning officers resort to the manual checking of thousands and thousands of ballot papers.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Subscribe to the New Statesman today and save 75%

Content from our partners
Hypertension: Solving the prevention puzzle
The road to retirement
In Sunderland, we are building homes and skills with a vision for the future

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments