Electronic Counting Pilot

Dover District Council is welcoming news that the Electoral Commission has found the pilot of electronic counting at Dover on 3 May was a success overall.

Dover District Council was one of 13 Local Authorities across the country selected to run Government pilot schemes in the elections. The additional costs associated with conducting the pilots were met by the Government. Each pilot has now been fully evaluated by the Electoral Commission. In its official report, the Commission found the piloting of electronic counting in Dover was generally well planned and executed. It also notes the e-count took approximately two hours less than a traditional hand count.

Andrew Scallan, Director of Electoral Administration at the Electoral Commission said: "Despite a tight timescale to get processes in place, the project was effectively managed by Dover District Council. Staff were well trained and given clear responsibilities and there was good communication between Dover District Council representatives and Opt2Vote, the technology supplier."

Three Authorities, including DDC, successfully operated an e-counting solution to count the ballots, but the pilots were not successful in three other Authorities. The report finds that only the count at Dover was quicker than a previous manual count.

Louise Cooke, Democratic Services Manager said: "We welcome the official findings of the Electoral Commission in recognising the success of the work that was carried out in Dover. I wish to thank everyone involved for their hard work. We were proud to be involved in the pilot, to lead the way for the future and to help improve awareness of the election processes."

The full text of the evaluation is available on the Electoral Commission website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk or for more information on the Dover evaluation, please see www.dover.gov.uk.