Red pencils to return to polling stations

Thursday 27 September 2007

Traditional ballot papers should replace voting computers at election time until all problems with electronic voting have been removed, concludes a government commission set up to look at Dutch voting systems.

The commission also said that the time is not yet right to allow people to vote by internet.

The old-fashioned ballot paper is preferable because it is easier to control the outcome of the vote, the commission said. It is extremely difficult to check results stored in a computer's memory, the commission said.

Junior home affairs minister Ank Bijleveld told ANP news service that it was now extremely likely that voting in the next scheduled election – for the European parliament in 2009 – would be done using the traditional red pencil and paper.

The commission also recommends that voters be allowed to cast their vote at any polling station, as long as they can prove their identity.

© DutchNews.nl

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