April 27, 2009
Ireland abandons electronic voting
According to a recent report in the Irish Times, the Irish Republic has decided to dump its 7,500 paperless electronic voting machines and retain paper ballots. There had been a proposal to add a Voter Verified Audit Trail (VVAT) to the paperless NEDAP machines but Irish Minister of the Environment John Gormley decided against that path, citing costs. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0423/breaking37.htm
“It is clear from consideration of the Report of the Commission on Electronic Voting that significant additional costs would arise to advance electronic voting in Ireland. This decision has been taken to avoid such costs, especially at a time of more challenging economic conditions.”
But Gormley stated that he felt that the decision was also justified by other considerations:
“The public appeared to be broadly satisfied with the present paper-based system and that this had to be recognised.
“The assurance of public confidence in the democratic system is of paramount importance and it is vital to bring clarity to the present situation.” Read the rest of this entry »
