Fears for E-voting security

12 councils trial E-voting

2 May 2007 15:42 GMT / By Ryan Haynes

The local elections this week will see 12 councils trial voting over the internet, however the government is still hesitant over security.

The Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) rolling out the first test is aware that there are security loop holes, but believe it will do the job.

In a statement from the DCA, the department feel there are little differences compared to more traditional means: "We will not roll out anything that is not at least as secure as traditional channels".

While, in Birmingham the postal vote is being investigated after 20,000 postal votes disappeared. We are unsure of which is safer, E-voting or postal on the back of this. At least under E-voting there will only be a few hackers responsible for any fraud (and generally those who are educated enough to use computers).

The 12 councils piloting the technology are: Bedford Borough Council, Breckland District Council, Broxbourne Borough Council, Dover District Council, Gateshead Council, Rushmoor Borough Council, Sheffield City Council, Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, South Bucks District Council, Stratford-on-Avon District Council and Warwick District Council, Sunderland City Council, and Swindon Borough Council.

Full tags

Software, Elections, Online, Voting