The first two decades of this millennium have brought significant changes to electoral services. There doesn’t seem to be a pause in the pace of change for this new decade. The canvass reform will be implemented this year and in the queen’s speech the government indicated their intention to introduce new procedures at polling stations.
While understanding the rationale for the proposed changes many electoral services teams, will be wondering whether this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, especially after the pressures of 2019. They will be hoping that the changes do not add extra burdens and/or risks, but their experience over the last two decades may well be leading them to think that is a false hope.
Election managers will be looking for ways to implement the new changes that are easy to deploy for their teams, easy for polling staff to understand and use and if possible, improve the experience of voters. Within other areas of modern society digital solutions have been introduced to help achieve the goals of easy deployment, easy use and better service. However, in elections there has been a tendency to keep to the paper and pencil (or pen). Concerns about security, reliability, complexity and expense have largely kept the benefits of technology out of the polling station.
Any technology introduced would have to demonstrate that it is secure. That it is reliable even in the out of way places polling stations sometimes need to be placed. That polling staff can take it out of the box and use it with a bare minimum of training and that it is cost effective. Such a solution exists, and it is time for a change.
At Modern Democracy we have worked closely with councils to create a bespoke solution, with a proven Voter ID module. Modern Polling has become the industry leader in digital Voter ID solution.
If you want to see the easiest solution to Voter ID, why not see us at stand 24 at AEA Blackpool, for a demo of Modern Polling.