News

E-voting gains ground in UK elections

May 8, 2003

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- VoteHere Inc., global provider of secure electronic-voting technology, has made progress in gaining supporters of e-voting for six local authorities in the United Kingdom as part of a three-year contract.

Nearly a half million voters were offered e-voting by public kiosks, Internet, touchtone phone, mobile phone and digital TV. This is VoteHere's second year of supplying e-voting technology to the UK government.

The local authorities included Swindon, Stroud, Stratford Upon Avon, Vale Royal, Shrewsbury, and Kerrier. In Swindon, approximately 25 percent of votes cast were cast electronically, a 75-percent increase from last year. In Stroud, in the first year of participation, 20 percent of all votes cast were cast electronically.

VoteHere's technology, in partnership with the Athena Consortium, was the voting engine driving the pilots.

Public response to e-voting is positive overall, with voters finding as key benefits the convenience of voting remotely and in advance of polling day.