Election Management System.

Thursday, 29 April 2004

Questions (139)

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

140 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if the proposed electronic voting system has been approved in respect of the accurate recording of voter intentions in a multi-seat proportional representation system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12416/04]

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Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Cullen)

The electronic voting and counting system has undergone rigorous and comprehensive testing by independent internationally accredited agencies and by expert agencies in this country. The national German test institute, PTB, specifically tested the vote recording and storing function of the voting machine for use in Irish elections and certified its operation in its report. In addition, an Irish software testing company, which undertook the architecture and code review of the election management software, examined the source code which dealt with the holding of combined polls under the PR-STV system and concluded that the software was fit for this purpose.