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Complex London Elections successfully delivered in record time
DRS today announced the successful execution of the electronic count for the UKs most complex and largest ever electoral event held on Thursday 10th June and counted on Friday 11th June. DRS provided extensive training sessions on the e-counting technology for the 1500 strong team made up of Local Authority, DRS permanent, part-time and locally recruited temporary staff, all of who worked together to successfully process ballot papers for the London Mayor, Assembly and EU Elections in record time. Local constituency results were coming in from mid afternoon on Friday and the result for the Mayor was announced at 6.18pm - just 9 hours after scanning started. If counted manually the results would not have been declared until days later.
“Voter turnout was higher than expected at an average of 37 per cent across the London Boroughs so processing the papers at such a fast rate was a great achievement and is a testament to the professionalism and dedication of the staff involved,” commented Tony Lee, Managing Director, DRS. ”A great deal of planning went into this project and we are very pleased that the team was able to produce a result within such a short window of time.“
A spokesperson for London Elects, which managed the planning of the elections, said that the outcome of the project had been more than satisfactory. "The technology worked excellently and we were able to count almost six million ballot papers under different electoral systems within hours, rather than days if they were counted manually."
Approximately 300 DRS PhotoScribe® Imaging scanners were used at 14 count centres around the capital to electronically record the votes from 3 different ballot papers using 4 different electoral systems. The technology accurately counted the votes and securely stored electronic images of any ballot papers where there was any doubt of the voters’ intent for on-screen adjudication by Local Authority staff.
Contact DRS Press Office: Tel: +44(0)1908 423760 pressoffice@drs.co.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
DRS has extensive experience in managing e-counted elections. It worked on the London Mayor and Assembly elections in 2000, the Westminster and Rugby Borough pilot schemes in 2002 and the Co. Durham and Shrewsbury & Atcham local elections in 2003. It also worked on the recent national elections in Oman, elections in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hong Kong and Norway, and has successfully managed electoral registration projects in Bosnia, Kenya and Mali.