ORG ElectionWatch 2007 ready to go
Most of the thirty ORG election observers who have volunteered to devote a day to democracy on 3 May have now received their official accreditation from the Electoral Commission. ORG’s monitoring team dominates the group of offical observers accredited by the commission last week. We’ll be paying special attention to the running of electronic voting and electronic counting pilots in Bedford, Rushmoor, Sheffield, Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Bucks, Stratford and Swindon. Observers will also be monitoring Scottish elections where e-counting is set to be deployed widely for the first time.
Today, Michael is mailing out hard copies of our election observer handbook, as well as limited edition ORG “election observer” T Shirts, which will make us easily recognisable to officials and candidates on the day. Last night, a few of the observers met up at the ICA in London to watch a screenig of Hacking Democracy, and chat with directors Russell Michaels and Simon Ardizzone.


May 4th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
We have been writing on the IT problems linked to the election (see link below). I know you must have been up all night but I wonder what the view is from the counting hall. I am amazed that electronic counting in Scotland proved so probelmatic given that it was relatively succesful in the 2001 GLA elections.
Do people think that electronic voting is just a panacea to try and overcome voter apathy caused by the behaviour of our political parties?
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=2877