[E-voting] Letter to the Public Accounts Committee

[Karen Devine]

Regarding the section in the letter that says

"that voting with buttons rather than a
pencil may be “easier” is a certain point of view, and not altogether an invalid
one. Although perhaps such opinions should have been rendered more scientific
through the use of usability surveys and research",

the Department commissioned MRBI to carry out public opinion surveys in each of
the three 'test' constituencies (Dublin West, Dublin North, Meath) in 2002 and
the voters reported the system was very easy to use and most (87%) expressed a
preference for the "voting machine" rather than the "paper ballot system".  So
the Department has covered itself on that score.

Of course the voters weren't asked to express a preference between a flawed
electronic system and a democratic, transparent paper system!

Karen


Quoting Colm MacCarthaigh <colm at stdlib.net>:

>
> 2nd draft:
>
> 	http://www.stdlib.net/~colmmacc/pacletter.pdf
>
> Sorry I don't have a text copy, it's almost unreadable when I export
> it :)
>
> On Sun, Jan 23, 2005 at 11:35:59AM +0000, Colm MacCarthaigh wrote:
> > The PAC will shortly be reviewing the matters surrounding the Electronic
> > Voting PR contract. I'd like to throw in this grenade :) Comments
> > welcome.
>
> --
> Colm MacCárthaigh                        Public Key: colm+pgp at stdlib.net
>
> _______________________________________________
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> http://evoting.cs.may.ie/
>
>


--
Karen Devine
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Political Science &
Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS)
Trinity College, Dublin
Ireland

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