Scotland awards vote counting deal to Logica

The technology firm and its partner Opt2vote will provide electronic counting services for the 2012 Scottish local government elections. Testing will take place over the next 20 months to ensure that the new e-counting system is fully operational in time for the elections in May 2012, the government said. "Since the problems encountered in the 2007 elections, this government has taken a series of measures and introduced reforms to ensure there is no repeat, including introducing legislation last year to separate local government elections from elections to the Scottish Parliament," said minister for enterprise, energy and tourism, Jim Mather. "The introduction of the new e-counting system is a major step in that process. Come the election, it will offer greater transparency through better displays of information as the count progresses. The system will have been subjected to rigorous testing to protect against the failures of the past." About 70,000 votes were rejected by the machines as spoilt in Scotland's 2007 elections. The Electoral Commission has opposed the Greater London Authority's plans to use similar machines in London's mayoral and assembly elections in 2012, due to doubts over past performance. When the Scottish government originally tendered for the system in January it dismissed such concerns. "Using the lessons learned from the May 2007 elections and a more stringent design, testing and project management approach to the e-counting project, the Scottish government believes that electronic counting can successfully and reliably be used at future local government elections in Scotland," a spokesperson told GC News at the time.