Over 1.5 million voters will lead the nation in trialing voting on the internet, digital television and by text messaging, at this May’s local elections.
In England’s most extensive test of e-voting yet, 18 local authorities have won the government go-ahead on plans for e-voting electoral pilots.
In almost every case, the successful local authorities will be piloting e-voting in all their wards. As a result, while the number of e-pilots has doubled compared with the May 2002 elections, the number of people eligible to use the new voting methods has more than trebled.
E-voting pilots will generally be run across the whole electoral area, and will include:
- Chester, Chorley, Vale Royal and South Tyneside to pilot e-voting on the internet, and using touch-tone telephone
- Sheffield, Malvern Hills, Shrewsbury and Atcham and Stratford-on-Avon to pilot mobile phone text messaging, the internet and in some areas digital TV
- Epping Forest, Ipswich, Norwich and St Albans will trial a combination of all electronic methods including e-voting at polling stations and e-counting
- Swindon, Stroud, Kerrier and parts of Somerset will combine all forms of electronic voting
- Basingstoke and Deane and Rushmoor will trial e-voting on the internet, at polling stations, and e-counting
Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford said:
"We are building on the positive response to the relatively small-scale trials held by nine authorities last year, which demonstrated the huge potential that e-voting has for giving people wider opportunities to vote. This year’s pilots which are being conducted on a much larger scale, will help us to gain a better knowledge and experience of e-voting with a much larger number of people."
"The pilots are an important step towards our aim of holding an e-enabled general election sometime after 2006. These innovations will help to make elections more relevant, straightforward and accessible for voters."
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