Electronic vote counting could be used in first island-wide voting election
ELECTRONIC vote counting could be used for the first time in Guernsey at next year's general election, and the traditional parish hustings may be consigned to history.
It is also proposed that the spending limit imposed on prospective deputies will significantly increase from £2,300 in 2016 to £9,000.
Any political parties will also have a spending limit of £9,000 and that money has to come from affiliated candidates.
The suggestions all form part of the latest policy letter from the States' Assembly & Constitution Committee (SACC), which is charged with making the first ever island-wide voting deputies' election run fairly and smoothly on Wednesday 17 June 2020.
Earlier this year SACC tidied up the legislation with regards to letting 18-year-olds stand for the post of deputy, and allowing people with no fixed address onto the electoral roll.
Now SACC is getting down to the nitty gritty logistics of the mammoth task of potentially counting 1.2m. votes from the tens-of-thousands of islanders on the electoral roll.
Historically, under the district system, the parishes voluntarily carried out the manual vote at each district.
Given the volume of votes likely to be cast under the new system, a manual count would be too labour-intensive and time-consuming, so it is proposed that optical scanners are rented to read the marked ballot papers and tally the results.
The old hustings nights are likely to be a thing of the past under island-wide voting, but there will still be ways for candidates to interact with the public, such as one-to-one 'surgeries' or a speed-dating style of drop-in events.
Instead of giving a grant to all the candidates, it is proposed that 'benefits-in-kind' will be offered.
These will include a collated candidates' manifesto booklet delivered to all households on the electoral roll, and short candidate videos will be uploaded onto the States website.
It is proposed that each candidate will be allocated two A4 pages in the booklet, so if there are 100 candidates local doormats will have to take the strain of a 220 page A4 booklet.
In an election of many firsts, there will also be an advance polling station at Beau Sejour Leisure Centre on the Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday where registered islanders can cast their vote ahead of polling day.
Advance polling will also be available at the parish polling stations and through postal voting.
However there will be no online voting through smartphones or computers, that was considered a step too far for 2020.
The President of SAAC, Deputy Neil Inder is confident that everything will be ready for the big day.
'The committee appreciates that the introduction of island-wide voting represents a significant change to the process of general elections in Guernsey – for the voters, candidates and those who administer the system.
'Its proposals seek to ensure voters are fully informed about the election and the candidates, that candidates are supported in getting their message out to the voters, that an appropriate administrative framework is in place to support the voting process, and that technology is used to assist in the vote count.
'In order to support the introduction of this new electoral system, the committee is requesting a higher budget than in previous years to ensure appropriate resources are allocated in all areas.'
