Over 200 electronic votes disappeared

Justice Minister says new elections not possible

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Electronic voting did not succeed as well as had been hoped in the three municipalities where it was used on a trial basis in Sunday’s municipal elections. A total of 232 votes were not recorded.
     In each of the cases, the voting was interrupted, and the ballot did not go into the electronic ballot box.
     
The Ministry of Justice says that the failure was probably caused by the voters’ failure to press the green OK button after tapping in the candidates' number, and before removing the voter card.
     There were 122 such lost votes in Vihti, 61 in Kauniainen, and 49 in Karkkila.
     The identities of the voters whose electronic voting failed are known, but the system does not reveal the reason for the failure.
     Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) is “very surprised” that the problem was so extensive.
     The ministry promises to look into ways to improve the system, so that the voter is informed of possible problems in the voting process.
     
A total of 12,234 electronic votes were cast in the three communities - 7,087 in Vihti, 2,983 in Kauniainen, and 2,165 in Karkkila.
      Thomas Berg, chairman of the Central Elections Commission of Kauniainen, would not say on Tuesday what possible measures might be taken over the matter.
     Minister of Justice Brax says that the law will not allow the nullification of the elections.
     Fellow Green League member, MP Jyrki Kasvi has called for new elections in the three communities. He says that otherwise it is not possible to know if the composition of the local councils corresponds to the will of the voters.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Online voting could come in 2015 at the earliest (30.1.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat