EU chiefs meet in Pama to talk internet voting

Voters at the next general elections in Spain may well be able to cast their vote by either internet or in “electronic ballot boxes. Yesterday, Spain, in its capacity as President of the Europe Union, opened the first Europe electoral process and management summit in Palma, which continues until Friday. Yesterday, the Spanish Home Office's electoral policy chief, Félix Marín Leiva, in Majorca to open the meeting, said that his department is currently studying a variety of new voting methods, adding that the electronic ballot boxes will be able to count the votes, thus reducing the time spent manually counting votes while increasing the level of acurracy. Félix Marín Leiva also pointed out that while such a dramatic shake-up of Spain's voting system may take longer than expected, the decision will have to be made by the government and will also involve changes to legislation. Marín said that his mandate is to make it easier for the electorate to exercise its right to vote. At this week's meeting, European Union member states will be discussing the introduction of a uniformed voting system which will be based on all the very latest technologies. Marín said that a working group will also be founded to eventually oversee electoral associations across the European Union. At this first meeting however, the main area of concern is ensuring that new Eastern block European Union member countries fully understand how the electoral processes work and that their process meets EU requirements. Marín said that while Spain's electoral system has, until now provided good results, the process can still be improved, especially with regards to security, by adopting the latest technologies. This year marks the 25th anniversary of democratic elections in Spain and Marín said yesterday that “electoral results in Spain have never been questioned, which shows that the system is reliable.”