First island-wide election unlikely to be electronic
ELECTRONIC voting is unlikely to be available in the next general election because of the environment in which the States’ Assembly and Constitution Committee has to work, its president told the States yesterday.
Neil Inder was responding to a question from Deputy Barry Brehaut, who wanted to know what electronic voting in the election would look like and how much it would cost.
‘At the moment, it’s not looking very good,’ said Deputy Inder, going on to say that, while his background was in IT, and conversations he had had with IT professionals had suggested that it would be possible for a suitable electronic voting system to be developed, by this point he would have had the project planned and part of the system built.
He said he would be surprised if a system was in place in time for the next election: ‘Electronic voting is absolutely possible, but it might not be possible in the organisation we’re working in.’
During his first update to the States as Sacc president, Deputy Inder updated members on the progress being made on various projects, as well as the committee’s work on the election, the first with island-wide voting.
He also mentioned how a request for £10,000 to be used to train States members had been refused. The matter would be raised with the strategic lead for supporting government once that post was taken up.
Deputy John Gollop wondered if it would be possible for candidates to receive some level of training ahead of the election, but Deputy Inder replied that the States had to remain neutral. However, Sacc could work with third parties if they wanted to provide this.
He had referred to the importance of members being trained on the implications of GDPR, and this brought Home Affairs president Deputy Mary Lowe to her feet to say that presentations had already been held for members to inform them about their responsibilities, and if any member wanted additional information these could be addressed by staff.
‘It is so important that we as deputies are continually trained in the one area where we are absolutely exposed and that is the loss and the control of data,’ replied Deputy Inder.
