Vol. 569 No. 3
411 Mr. Dennehy asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government if he will give consideration to the idea of a print out of each voter's selection being generated as part of the new electronic voting system, as a means of allowing the voter to verify their choice and thereby increasing confidence in the proposed system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17792/03]
In the interests of protecting the secrecy of the ballot, the present manual voting system does not provide a receipt or docket with the voter's preferences. Similarly, the new electronic voting arrangements will not provide a print out of individual voter preferences at the time of voting. However, the system software will enable the printing of a ballot paper for each vote cast, without attribution to the individual voter, where a court order to this effect is obtained at an election petition.
When using the voting machine, the voter will see his or her preferences beside the candidates' photographs. In addition, the details of each preference will be separately shown on a voting machine display screen. Before pressing the cast vote button, a voter can amend in secret the preferences recorded on his or her ballot.
I fully acknowledge the desirability of ensuring maximum confidence in the new system particularly in those constituencies or local electoral areas where the voting machines have not previously been used. To this end, details on the voting procedures will be sent to each elector before the European and local elections in 2004 and there will be national and local publicity campaigns to inform voters.
