Electronic voting has failed to be widely adopted by municipalities in Japan, reflecting concern over voting device breakdowns and high costs for system development and maintenance. Only three municipalities—Kyoto; Niimi, Okayama Prefecture; and Rokunohe, Aomori Prefecture—are carrying out electronic voting based on ordinances. There is little momentum for expanding the use of electronic voting to national elections. The law for electronic voting was put into force in February 2002 with the aim of speeding up vote counting. Voters cast ballots by operating touch screens and other electronic devices at polling stations.
Local governments are allowed to introduce the system once they enact ordinances. Mie and Okayama prefectures, as well as Kyoto and nine other municipalities adopted ordinances. However, most of them have stopped operating electronic voting due to failures of devices or for financial reasons.
Full Article: Electronic voting hindered by breakdowns, cost – The Japan News.