The General Election Commission of Bantaeng Regency in Indonesia conducted simulations of e-voting in the elections held on 17 April. Out of the 361 polling stations set up in the regency, 42 participated in the e-voting simulation. The votes cast under this project were not counted or publicised, but used for research purposes to test the viability of electronic voting in Indonesia, and make a recommendation to the House of Representatives about the election bill currently being drafted.
The pilot project received positive responses from participants who tested it out. Muhammad Alhamid, Chairman of the Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu), said that e-voting would reduce the amount of money the government spends on organising local elections, and eliminate potential violations during ballot counting.
Indonesia intends to introduce electronic voting for the presidential elections in 2014. In the past, problems that emerged with e-voting included technological illiteracy, lack of voter confidence in the electronic system, and cost and efficiency of e-voting equipment and system maintenance.
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