The ill-conceived electronic voting system imposed on us by the former Government has cost us, the taxpayers, €58 million, a loss a bankrupt country can do without. Environment Minister Phil Hogan has decided to pull the plug on e-voting and have a fire sale of the 7,504 machines held in storage at warehouses all over the country.
A tender process is being prepared for international publication, which will detail the amount of memory and the software specifications in the machines in the hope some technology firm may be able to harvest some value from them before they are finally scrapped. The e-voting saga has proved an expensive lesson for this country. The concept was not sought nor wanted by the electorate.
The unwanted units have been in storage since their purchase in 2002. One lease was signed for 15 years, the remainder for 10 to 15 years. Fewer than 1,000 machines were used on a pilot basis in Meath, Dublin West and Dublin North in the 2002 general election.
But controversy over the lack of a paper trail of the votes cast threw a shadow over their effectiveness.
Full Article: Confining e-voting to the scrap heap.