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Under starter's orders for the 2004 London election race
The first milestone in the countdown to next year's London Mayoral and Assembly elections was passed today with the award of an electronic vote counting contract worth at least £3.5 million to Milton Keynes-based DRS Data & Research Services plc.
Utilising its own range of sophisticated imaging and data capture technology (as pictured), DRS will deliver accurate and secure results for the entire London Mayoral and Assembly ballot. Electronic, or ‘e’-counting, involves scanning ballot papers through specially designed technology which records the votes cast on the ballot papers, and automatically captures images of any ballot papers where there is doubt over the voters intent. All data is stored securely on a central database and the images of ballot papers are retrieved and used for adjudication by the Returning Officer or his/her staff. Unique barcodes are printed on every ballot paper which identifies the contest in which the vote belongs and reduces the chances of electoral fraud. The automated process means that multiple votes and different voting systems can be calculated at the same time, ensuring a faster and more accurate count.
E-counting is the only viable option for the London Mayoral and Assembly elections because of their sheer size and complexity. Two different voting systems are used, necessitating two separate ballot papers comprising four votes in total. E-counting will enable the entire count to be completed many times faster than if it were done manually; around seven million individual votes were cast in 2000, DRS technology delivered results the following morning, if manually counted it would have taken anything up to five days.
DRS will provide the complete e-counting solution, from designing and printing the ballot papers, supplying ballot boxes specially designed to store unfolded ballot papers, right through to providing sophisticated e-counting machines and on-site technical support and back-up for the actual count event, which will take place in the constituency count centres across London. The company will work closely with the newly formed Elections Team based in the Office of the Greater London Returning Officer, charged with planning and implementing the entire elections process.
Anthony Mayer, Greater London Returning Officer, commented "I am delighted that we will be working in close partnership with DRS, who will work with us to ensure an accurate and fair election result in June 2004."
DRS Managing Director, Tony Lee, said "With exactly one year to go, DRS is delighted to be working on the London Mayoral and Assembly elections. We are confident that we can deliver the election results securely, accurately and efficiently."
DRS is a market leader in electronic data capture, specialising in high-volume, time-critical and complex projects. Its experience includes numerous other UK electronic election counts, in May 2003 it managed the e-counting element of the Shrewsbury & Atcham multiple channel elections and the first all postal multiple council election count in County Durham. In 2002 it e-counted the Westminster and Rugby local elections. Further a field it has managed complex e-counted elections in Hong Kong, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Norway.
The Government’s intention to combine the London Mayoral and Assembly elections with the European Parliamentary elections was announced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 6 May 2003. An amendment to the Local Government Bill is pending, shifting the date of the Mayoral and Assembly elections to 10 June 2004. A combined election in London would make it the world’s most complex election ever.