Preparations are now well underway for the
London Mayor and London Assembly elections on 1 May 2008. The
Greater London Returning Officer has set up an elections team,
London Elects, with the aim of delivering another successful London
election.
London Elects is the independent team
responsible for planning, communicating and delivering a fair and
accurate election. The team recently completed their first task
setting up an electronic counting contract, which has been awarded
to Indra Sistemas
SA.
Indra, a Spanish company with a multi-billion
Euro turnover, specialises in large scale technology projects
including air traffic control, defence systems and elections. They
have done e-counting in Spain, Norway, Central and South America
and most recently were responsible for two pilot counts in the
local elections in Breckland, in Norfolk and Bedford. Indra is one
of the world’s leading providers of electoral services.
Electronic counting, or ‘e-counting’, involves
scanning ballot papers through machines which capture and store the
votes on a secure database. As well as counting the ballots, the
machines can handle multiple votes on one ballot paper and cope
with different voting systems. Papers where the voter’s intention
is unclear are referred to the Returning Officer’s staff to be
adjudicated. Electronic counting was successfully used to count the
votes in the London Elections in 2000 and 2004. A dedicated
e-counting team will manage the Indra contract and ensure
everything goes smoothly.
Votes in London Assembly and Mayoral elections
have to be counted this way as the system is so complex. On 1 May
2008 Londoners will cast four votes on three different ballot
papers, all of which will be counted using different voting
systems. An electronic count can produce a result within 12 hours
where as a manual count would take 3-4 days to complete.
Since the 2004 elections, London Elects has
taken a number of important steps to make things easier for the
voter.
- Unlike in 2000 and 2004 the Assembly
contest will be split across two ballot papers, making voting
simpler;
- All of the ballot papers have been
redesigned to maximise comprehension and usability. Voters will
only use crosses to mark their papers, rather than a combination of
numbers and crosses;
- In 2000 counting took place in 14 centres,
in 2004 10; in 2008 there will only be three count centres, so that
technical and electoral experience and knowledge is concentrated in
just three locations;
- A rigorous and extensive testing system
has been agreed with Indra.
Anthony Mayer, Greater London Returning
Officer, said: “The London Mayor and London Assembly election is
the largest and most complex electoral event in the UK. This
requires careful planning, good management and clear communication.
I am confident that my experienced and skilled elections team will
do an excellent job, as in 2004 and 2000.
“We are looking forward to working with Indra
as our main IT supplier, and are confident that together we will
ensure an accurate, fair and efficient election result on 2 May
2008.
“Any Londoner with questions about the
elections should contact London Elects.”
Ends
For media enquiries call Emma Cassidy, Public
Relations and Media Liaison Officer
at London Elects, on 020 7983 4447 or Matt
Bright, Communications Manager, on 020 7983 4449.
For out of hours enquiries, contact 07920 547
307 or 07768 044 820.
Notes to Editors
- E-counting has been used in all of the GLA elections, in 2000
and 2004.
- If turnout remains the same as 2004, London Elects and Indra
will count almost 6 million ballot papers in the elections for a
London Mayor and London Assembly next year.
- More than 4,000 polling stations will be set up on 1 May 2008,
open from 7am to 10pm.
- Three count centres will be set up in London to count all the
ballot papers at Alexandra Palace, Olympia and ExCel.
- The result for London Mayor is calculated using the
supplementary vote system, the London Assembly is calculated using
the additional member system which combines
first-past-the-post for the 14 Constituency contests and
proportional representation system for the 11 London-wide
Members.