Friday, May 14, 2004
ALERT
NB ponders e-voting
NB ponders e-voting
New Brunswick's chief electoral officer is reviewing the possibility of using electronic voting machines on a wide basis.
The machines were used in a successful test run in Saint John during this week's municipal elections.
The province's training and employment development officer, Margaret-Ann Blaney, said the government is awaiting a report on the machines. She says there has been positive feedback about the electronic vote count.
NDP Leader Elizabeth Weir said the quick turnaround of vote numbers this year is a stark contrast to the last municipal election.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Indians embrace e-voting
With the Indian Election Commission counting the votes Thursday, officials said the new electronic system would allow the results to be announced within hours — a process that took almost two days in past elections.
Still, critics said the machines were not foolproof.
There were nationwide reports of faulty starts, voter confusion and at least one known case of vote tampering. Some also question the reliability of machines developed by the government.
"A myth has been created that this machine is totally tested and beyond human manipulation," said Frederick Noronha, a founder of Bytesforall.org, a South Asian organization that campaigns for using technology to benefit the poor.
"I have been tracking the debate in technical circles. They are raising very valid concerns about this machine," he said.
More than 1 million electronic voting machines were used at polling stations across India in the five-phased elections from April 20 through Monday, the world's biggest democratic exercise.
