Charlie McCreevy (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

The electronic voting and counting project is not about change for the sake of change or technology for the sake of technology. Its fundamental purpose is to improve the efficiency, speed, accuracy and user-friendliness of elections and to eliminate the democratic wastage associated with spoilt votes. There were more than 20,000 in the 2002 general election, equivalent to 1.1% of all votes. It is more than just improving the technology. By modernising and transforming elections in a visible way, it creates the opportunity for tackling voter apathy and improving the image of elections, especially for an increasingly younger electorate.

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