Vol. 572 No. 3
501 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the way in which the electronic voting system will deal with two elections on the one day, as will occur in June 2004 with the local and European elections; if twice as many machines will be needed; and if this has implications for holding multiple referendums on the one day as has happened in the past. [22959/03]
The election management system, which comprises a voting machine, programming unit, PC and associated software, is designed to take up to five polls at the same time, including more than one referendum or a referendum with another poll. At next year's polls in June, there will be two ballot papers, European and county or city council in most areas and a third in those areas where a borough or town council election is also being held. The voter will enter his or her preferences on one or more of the ballot papers activated on the voting machine by the presiding officer and then press the "cast vote" button. Local and national information campaigns will be conducted to ensure that all voters will be fully informed on the use of the voting machines before polling day.
The system is also designed to accommodate the four different categories of electors, for example, presidential, Dáil, European and local government electors. While the number of voting machines to be used in any location is a matter for each returning officer, it is expected that there will be one voting machine for each ballot box previously used. In urban areas particularly, there may of course be a number of polling stations in the same building. Extra voting machines may be used, where necessary, especially at peak voting periods.
