Voting goes hi-tech

Polling stations are being scrapped in favour of postal votes and touchscreen voting is on offer in an attempt to boost the turnout in next Thursday's local elections.

The attempt to breathe new life into the democratic process follows a slump in turnouts at local elections which in 1998 dropped to an all-time low of 28 per cent, sparking fears that fringe parties - such as the far-Right BNP - will make unexpected gains.

Both projects - taking place in Hackney and Newham - are two of 30 being implemented across the country in which different voting systems are being tested, including extended polling hours, balloting on-line, use of touch-tone telephones, digital TV voting and text messages.

But there is concern about the way next week's polls will be conducted. In Labour-run Hackney, Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford has had to lay down safeguards after fears that the postal ballot may be open to electoral fraud.

After filling in their ballot papers Hackney residents will have to seal the form inside an envelope, sign it and have it countersigned by someone who knows them, and then put it inside a second envelope before posting it back.

The system is further complicated by an additional form which asks voters if they are in favour of having an elected mayor for the borough.

Resident Emma Hoskyns, 34, who works for ITN, said: "This system appeals to me because finding time to go out and vote is always a problem but I know my husband, who is much less organised than me, won't get round to posting it. He prefers the old system."

Fears have also grown about the delivery of ballots to estates where many ethnic minorities live. The Christian People's Alliance is organising a mass "witnessing" of voting, sparking concern that people may be influenced to vote a certain way.

There are also fears that Hackney has "form" for electoral fraud after two of its councillors were convicted of the offence. Eric Ollerenshaw, deputy Tory leader of the Greater London Authority, said: "If I wanted to experiment in voting the last place I would choose would be Hackney."

There are suspicions that the borough applied to run the postal scheme so it could save £51,000 by abolishing polling stations.

In Newham's polling stations, 250 touch-screen computers will provide an electronic version of a ballot form which voters will use to choose the borough's first directly-elected mayor and local councillors. After making their choice all voters need do is return an electronic swipe card to an official for use by someone else.

Labour-controlled Newham is also testing out an "early voting" scheme where computers will be taken in mobile polling booths to railway stations and hospitals. These will be in place from tomorrow until Monday only. Voters must provide identification before making their choice and safeguards will be installed to prevent people voting more than once.

Counting in Newham will also be done electronically, and officials claim that results will be known half an hour after polls close at 9pm, far sooner than the early morning announcements made by most councils used to counting ballot papers by hand.

While the new system might attract younger voters, there are concerns that older electors - the mainstay of local polls - might be put off.

Early indications of the turnout are not good; an ICM survey predicted turnout as low as 25 per cent of the 22 million eligible to vote. That would be another all-time low, suggesting that democracy's problems run much deeper than the methods used to cast votes.