[E-voting] proposed press release -- ICTE PREDICT E-VOTING

[Shane Hogan]

>There are 14,000 voting booths in the paper system, and the state 
>currently own 7,000 voting machines. Without any of the necessary 
>modifications listed by the commission, the cost of using this system 
>for Irish elections would start at 35,000,000.
>
>
>[ends]
>
>* This calculation is based on the following assumptions:
>No. of machines - 7,500
>No. of voters     - 1.8 million (this is the figure from the 2002 
>general election, rounded down)
>        --> No. of voters per machine - 240
>No. of minutes (14 hour day)  - 840
> 
>        --> average time per voter - 3.5 minute


Don’t forget that each voting machine requires a dedicated operator to sit at the machine for the full day to enable the machine for voting (on receipt of a token) and disable the machine after each vote.

So in addition to the capital costs of the machine, the extra 7,500 machines would add about another €1 million to the manpower running costs of each election.

Regards - Shane