The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has told a House of Representatives committee that it is looking into a way for its officers to utilise technology to look up the status of citizens at the next federal election in lieu of the dated paper-based method currently employed. The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters heard on Wednesday from AEC representatives, who explained that the government agency is “progressing a series of technical amendments” with the Department of Finance as part of its attempt to modernise the AEC.
The committee has been looking into the 2016 federal election, part of which concerns why there were around 14,000 votes omitted due to electoral roll discrepancies.
According to committee member Liberal MP Ben Morton, where technology is utilised via Electronic Certified Lists (ECLs), there is a drastic difference in erroneous voting ballots: 11.2 percent of overall votes are partially omitted where no ECLs are used, versus an error rate of just 0.19 percent where they are used.
Full Article: Electoral Commission exploring how technology can simplify voting process | ZDNet.