The days of "pour" and "contre" are over, as electronic voting is ready for the next States meeting.
The idea of electronic voting has been around for twenty years, but was finally approved in March 2022.
It was supposed to be introduced in July, but as the Bailiff and deputy Bailiff were unavailable to oversee that meeting, it was thought inappropriate to test it then.
Deputy Carl Meerveld, who heads up the States Assembly and Constitution Committee, (SACC) which has responsibility for e-voting, says it's ready to go and is a simple system:
"As each proposition comes up, it pops up on their screen and the presiding officer decides how long they've got to press on the appropriate button."
The system has cost around £73,000 to set up with an annual ongoing fee of around £18,000, but, during debate, it was argued that staff wages to process recorded votes also cost money.
Deputy Meerveld says it will provide absolute transparency on voting records:
"It'll be published on the internet within seconds of the vote being taken. And, there'll be an historic database where people will be able to see exactly how deputies have voted on all the important issues."
During the debate in March 2022, deputy Peter Roffey said e-voting would herald the end of a States tradition:
"A little bit of colour will be sucked out of this Assembly."
The next thing SACC wants to look at is some form of live streaming of States meetings, so that people can watch debates, as well as listen to them. Deputy Meerveld says money is a constraint, but the idea is being considered:
"At a time when we are having to consider tax increases, we don't want to be spending a lot of money, but SACC is looking at whether or not there is some way that we can relatively cheaply broadcast video of the Assembly.
In this day and age, people want to be able to see what's happening."
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