Electronic voting booths criticised

The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, has said he has no intention of "insulting the intelligence of the electorate" by issuing new instructions on how to operate electronic voting booths.

Instructions on how to operate the booths are to be prominently displayed in the polling stations as opposed to the booths themselves, the Minister said. Electronic voting is to be introduced in three constituencies for the election: Dublin North, Meath and Dublin West.

The arrangements were criticised by the opposition yesterday. A Labour candidate in the Minister's own constituency of Meath, Mr Peter Ward, said the booths had the potential to confuse and delay people at the polling station, which could become critical as the polls closed.

The outgoing Fine Gael TD for Dublin North, Mrs Nora Owen, claimed the booths had the potential to cause "South African-style" queues at polling stations. Ms Owen said the absence of written instructions in the booths themselves would lead to confusion.

Speaking on the RTÉ lunchtime news, Mrs Owen said voters must use one button to select the preferential number for the candidate, and another for the candidate.

Mistakes could be rectified, but voters did not know if, for example they changed preference number five, that they would blank out their selection below five, which would need to be re-inputted. Ms Owen said she was begging the Minister to issue new instructions.

However, Mr Dempsey said he would have "great difficulty in insulting my electorate in Co Meath" with such instructions. "I am assuming they know how to read and understand emblems and press buttons," he said.