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DRS e-Counting delivers complex STV Scottish by-elections in record time
07th November 2008
DRS e-Counting solutions have once again delivered results efficiently and effectively, and faster than ever, for two Scottish councils last night. With a combined electorate of over 44,500, DRS e-Counting technology was used to count the complex STV Forth Ward City of Edinburgh and the Baillieston Ward Glasgow City Council by-elections. Both elections were hailed a success by the Returning Officers, with all votes being scanned in less than an hour after the polling stations closed.
With an electorate of 21,560 in the Edinburgh Forth Ward, postal and normal ballot papers were electronically counted using DRS award winning PhotoScribe® PS960 e-Counting scanners, recently voted 2008 Hardware Product of the Year.
With just under 32 percent turnout, the papers were registered, scanned and verified in less than an hour, with the final results declared by the Returning Officer just after midnight. City of Edinburgh Returning Officer, Tom Aitchison, said: “I am delighted with how well the count has gone and how quickly we were able to announce the results. I am particularly impressed by the professionalism, knowledge and commitment of the DRS team and how well they have worked with my staff.”
In Glasgow, it took just 35 minutes to electronically count the ballots for the Baillieston Ward by-election. With an electorate of over 23,000, and a 20.9 percent turnout, each voter chose up to seven votes on their ballot papers.
Glasgow City Council Returning Officer, George Black, said: “This is the second time we have used the DRS e-Counting system for a by-election and yet again it has proved to be a huge success. For this sort of election, electronic counting allows us to produce a result more quickly and more accurately than would ever be the case with manual counting.”
DRS elections specialist, Samantha Jones comments: “DRS is delighted to have once again worked with City of Edinburgh and Glasgow City Councils. It is our aim to help reduce the administrative burden of elections, whilst ensuring the security, integrity and accuracy of the results.”
For more information please contact:
Katie McBreen or Jill Hawkins at Friday’s Media Group, 18 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QL
Telephone: 0207 851 4657. Katiem@fridays-group.co.uk or mailto:JillH@Fridays-Group.co.uk
Notes
DRS has repeatedly delivered accurate, robust and secure e-Counting solutions around the world. Its technology gives assurance that the correct number of ballot papers are entered into the count and each paper is counted once, votes are electronically recorded where the voter’s intent is clear, images of ballot papers where the voter’s intent is not clear are passed to election officials for adjudication and higher security measures are applied through audit trails and access controls.
The DRS PS960 PhotoScribe® scanner won the Hardware Product of the Year at this year’s prestigious DM Awards held at the Tower Hotel in London on 23rd October. The awards reward outstanding products, suppliers and projects in the data, document and content management industry.
The PhotoScribe® PS960 scanner offers full duplex bitonal or greyscale image capture and can process ballot papers up to 18” in length. It sets a new standard in data and image processing innovation and has been used around the world to process complex and time critical elections, voter registration, census and examination processing exercises.