Online Voting meets with some Success

30 areas in last week's local elections were given the chance to vote online via the internet, through text messages, using digital television or by telephone to pilot new voting mechanisms.

More that 21,000 people in parts of Liverpool and Sheffield were sent sealed ballot cards containing a PIN and pass word. The cards contained a silver panel that had to be scratched off before the PIN and pass word were revealed. Using the two codes, voters could cast their vote by e-mail, phone or text message over a six-day period until the close of polls on polling day.

Parts of Crew and Nantwich, St Albans and Swindon tested internet voting from home, local libraries and council-run information kiosks.

People were still given the option to vote at traditional polling booths and using postal ballots. Postal voting appeared particularly popular - raising the turnout from 29% to 53% in Stevenage, says the Electoral Commission. Text messaging emerged as the least popular form of voting.

Another noticeable advantage over the traditional paper ballot was that the count was speeded up in some areas, the Electoral Commission said. The new measures saw the result announced at 9.20pm in Stevenage. There were no reports of electoral fraud, lack of secrecy or sabotage from hackers.

Local government minister Nick Raynsford has called the move an important part of modernising voting arrangements by making the most of technology, although he has been criticised for tackling only the mechanism of voting, not issues of real local democracy.

The Electoral Commission is to conduct a series of opinion polls to gauge the value, helpfulness and ease of the pilot voting schemes. It is set to publish its report in July.

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