Scottish gov't report: don't e-count votes

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 19, 2008 5:57 AM | permalink

Glyn sez, "The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has released its report on the experience of the Scottish elections and unsurprisingly they are worried about e-counting."

There has been a severe loss of confidence in e-counting. The experience of its use in the Scottish Parliament and local government elections revealed a fundamental lack of transparency. The checks and balances of a manual system must be retained. Candidates and observers must have access to ballot papers in order to ensure that procedures are followed correctly and that recounts can be asked for. Until these problems are resolved, we do not support the use of e-counting for future elections.

Link (Thanks, Glyn!)

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Discussion

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#1 posted by iRoy

, May 19, 2008 7:53 AM

Err, the House of Commons is the UK Govt. This is the London based report on the Scottish Parliamentary and Council Elections.

Or for Americans; it is a Federal Report on the elections held in a single State.

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#2 posted by doctorvee

, May 19, 2008 8:05 AM

The House of Commons isn't the UK Government -- it's the UK Parliament.

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#3 posted by Santa's Knee , May 19, 2008 8:25 AM

Wiki:

"The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords (the upper house)."

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#4 posted by Paul Maurice Martin , May 19, 2008 9:25 AM

Sure makes sense to me...

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#5 posted by Cochituate , May 19, 2008 9:27 AM

...not using electronic ballots, eh?

I'd be willing to bet that exit polling works in this jurisdiction then. Funny how 'the World's Greatest Democracy' is one of the few places where exit polling doesn't seem to work.

Thank God our news media is right on top of that story.

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#6 posted by KafirCake , May 19, 2008 12:19 PM

I like the back on forth on the definition of the thing being discussed. It's like a wiki-argument.

"a severe loss of confidence in e-counting" Are you more disappointed at the assertion of historical confidence, it's loss or that it might ever have been true.

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#7 posted by Super Nate , May 19, 2008 10:01 PM

I really wish I could vote online. Then get a confirmation code and receipt which I could check against ballots listed by confirmation only.

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#8 posted by error404 , May 20, 2008 2:42 AM

@Cochituate #5

Exit polling in the UK doesn't really work too well because we have a very long standing tradition of not answering intrusive questions.

To an awful lot of Brits the Secret Ballot is just that, secret.

So tend to misinform polsters.

We also think it is incredibly rude to ask about income, sex lives and sundry other personal fields of inquiry.

Odd bunch the Brits.

Oh and the Commons is the lower chambver of our bycameral parliament, parliament is not the govt, and the report is from Westminster (ie Parliament) reporting on the findings of the Scottish Palriament (Hollyrood, Scotland being a different country from England but them both being partners in the United Kingdom)