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Election Farce In Scotland
Remember all that fuss about hanging chads? Couldn't happen here. Ooops! Up to 100,000 votes in the Scottish council elections may have to be discounted following problems with a new electronic counting system.
The Independent has a rundown of the problem, which appears to be threefold. First, the electronic voting machines being used in some areas for the first time. Then, problems with postal voting, which some party officials claimed "disenfranchised many." And then the nature of the dual-ballot voting procedure. One paper, for the Scottish parliament, was based on the simple mark a cross beside the candidate of your choice system.
The second, for local councils, was based on the Single Transferable Vote system, where voters can rank their first, second and third preferences (and so on). This system has been used with some success, notably in Northern Ireland.
Some commentators claim voters were confused by the system, but the numbers of votes rated as being spoiled seems almost farcical, with almost ten percent of papers rated as "spoilt" in some regions.
Here's the Independent:
"In some constituencies the number of rejected papers exceeded the majority of the winning candidate. In Edinburgh Central, deputy environment minister Sarah Boyack had a majority of 1,193 but there were 1,501 rejected papers. In Glasgow Govan, Nicola Sturgeon's majority was 744, but the number of rejected papers was 1,220."
The Guardian reports that the Scottish Office "investigate the problems which beset the Holyrood elections "as a matter of urgency", citing "serious technical failures".
"The chaotic events will also be probed by DRS, the company behind the vote-counting technology, and the relevant returning offices."
DRS executives have appeared on Scottish television news shows to reassure voters that they have been "having some known issues with the consolidation of results...The e-counting system has not crashed. The system remains secure and robust with all audit information logged. This is a temporary interruption to one small aspect of the overall process."
Alex Salmond, leader of the separatist Scottish National Party, which looks like doing very well in these elections, says the postal voting issue is "totally inadequate." The disappearance of thousands of votes, he added, was "totally unacceptable."
Salmond's election director Angus Robertson, called it a "disgrace."
Deutsche Welle reports that other European separatists are watching Scotland's elections, and the performance of the SNP in particular with interest.
Basques, Catalans and Northern Cypriots are just some of the groups pondering breakaway states: To this you can add less pressing nationalist issues in Northern Italy and Flanders. An independent Scotland could encourage other states to "go it alone". This could cause a headache for Eurocrats, as new membership might have to be negotiated for new nations, but would appeal to others as a breakdown into a "Europe of regions."
Elsewhere in the elections, most reports suggest Tony Blair's Labour Party is getting a thrashing from voters, but is not experiencing the rout that some forecast.
UPDATE: Scottish voters demand answers
