1. The Electoral Modernisation Programme in the United Kingdom
Paul Docker
Head of Electoral Modernisation
Department for Constitutional Affairs
CoE Conference
November 2006 1

2. Vision Multi-channel elections which: Meet needs of modern lifestyles
Improve access
Maintain / increase security
Improve administrative efficiency
“A 21st century democracy should provide a variety of ways of voting that reflect modern lifestyles” e-Envoy; In the Service of Democracy – 2002 3

3. The UK approach Maintaining a healthy scepticism
Trials in binding elections
Maintaining a healthy scepticism
Relying heavily on independent evaluation and agreed standards (CoE)
Developing robust systems & accreditation including use of EML
Scaling up where opportunities allow and systems require 7

4. UK Government’s strategy
A first programme of pilots in binding elections to 2005
leading to extensive e-enabled:
local government elections to 2010
Greater London Assembly elections
Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland Assembly elections?
European Parliamentary elections?
and leading to an e-enabled general election 5

5. The benefits of piloting
Testing in a real world environment
Learning lessons
Building for the future:
voter experience
local authority appetite
technical experience
developing political will 11

6. Electoral Pilots - a brief history
Since enabling legislation in 2000 over 150 electoral pilot schemes involving some 100 local authorities
2003 Electoral Pilots covered over 6.4 million electors in 59 electoral pilots
17 (centrally funded) e-voting pilots delivering: Internet, kiosks, SMS, telephone and interactive digital TV 8

7. 2003 Electoral Pilots Summary
1.4 million voters able to participate in e-voting pilots
27% of voters offered e-voting used the new methods available
In comparable areas where piloting took place in 2002, voting using e channels increased by over 50%
2003 e-voting pilot areas had an average turnout of 37.5% compared to the national average of 33% 17

8. The ‘hiatus’ in 2004 and 2005
concentration on all-postal pilots
Ministers keen to use gains in postal voting
Coincided with Birmingham fraud issues
General election - no power to pilot
Need to address issues around postal voting became a priority 19

9. Pilot developments in May 2006
Concentrated on security and administrative changes plus e-counting
pilots to improve the security of the election e.g. use of barcodes, signature checking (Contributed to Act in July 2006) ;
pilots which improved access for electors, e.g. early voting, mobile voting and alternative polling locations;
pilots which improved administrative efficiency e.g. electronic counting of traditional and/or postal ballots; 20

10. What we want to test Central Procurement
Direction to suppliers – e.g. pre-registration
Testing what we want – e.g. different marks in e-counting, different languages, ensuring accuracy of ballot completion
Procurement based on CoE Standards
2007 onwards we will pilot:
traditional and additional polling stations
Remote e-voting – Internet and Telephone voting
‘de-centralisation’ of voting to improve accessibility

11. E-voting - specific issues for UK
Fraud - increase in Postal Vote security requirements
Maintaining public confidence in election systems
Media and perceptions - UK and abroad
Capacity of local authorities to deliver
Supply -v- Demand - getting what we want not necessarily what is already available
Political support 13

12. Conclusion
Looking to push forward on e-voting
We are focused on addressing the key issues in the current climate - security, perceptions first …. scalability later
We are looking to learn from recent experiences
Looking forward to working with you and others 25

13. Contacts: paul.docker@dca.gsi.gov.uk +44 (0)20 7210 8221
+44 (0) 26