Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I agree with the Minister of State's comment that we must await the commission's next report. The commission reported favourably on the use of electronic voting. Like Senator Quinn, I support electronic voting, particularly for reasons of accuracy in the vote and the counting of votes in elections. In response to Senator Bannon's point about obtaining different results, this is one of the problems we have with the paper system of voting and was particularly evident in the recounts during the previous general election.

Most people agree that the electronic voting system selected has much to recommend it. Voters and election officials were satisfied with the system's physical lay-out in the previous general election and the second Nice treaty referendum. One of the great benefits of electronic voting is that it avoids inadvertent voting errors. I hope we could be more positive about this issue and allow the commission to issue a further report.

Senator McCarthy referred to problems with privacy in an electronic voting system. Privacy is not an issue. Complaints were made about the possibility that people will be assisted to vote but that is already the case under the current system. One of the commissioners stated that if the machine made one beeping sound when a person was voting, it could somehow indicate to others in the vicinity of the polling booth the person for whom a voter is voting. The same could be true for a person using a ballot paper. While I do not agree with some of the conclusions of the commission, we should wait until another report is produced. I fully support the Minister of State's position.