This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Future of elections
11/11/2003
Voting through the TV, phoning in your vote, or having your ballot paper counted by a machine were among ideas discussed at a conference inEdinburgh.
The one-day seminar - 'The shape of elections to come' - was organised by the Electoral Commission, the Executive and COSLA.
Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services, Tavish Scott, spoke about the experiences of the Stirling, Aberdeenshire and Borders pilot projects.
Mr Scott said:
"Pilots offer a valuable opportunity to test new ways of voting and counting votes and make both voting and running elections easier.
"The three pilots we have run to date inScotlandhave all been successful and showed a substantial increase in turnout numbers. I am grateful to both the Electoral Commission and COSLA for their help in putting together this joint seminar which gives those involved in elections the chance to hear about the experiences of running pilots."
Research published earlier in the year by the Electoral Commission showed that half of Scottish non-voters surveyed said they were more likely to vote if voting from mobile phones was introduced (49%), with a similar number (48%) saying they would be more likely to vote in a postal vote. One in three (34%) would be prompted to vote by the introduction of Internet voting, and weekend voting would attract one in four (26%) of non-voters.
Whilst 59 local authority pilot schemes were conducted acrossEnglandon1 May 2003, there is not yet a sufficient base of evidence and experience inScotland. There have been three successful all-postal pilots in Stirling, Aberdeenshire and the Scottish Borders.
Elected members, Returning Officers, electoral administrators and other interested groups are now being offered the chance to discuss pilots. With the possibility that Scotland might be chosen as a pilot area for next year's elections to the European Parliament, there will be particular interest in all-postal and e-enabled elections.