ANALYSIS: Apart from a few minor glitches early yesterday morning, the new electronic voting system proved popular with voters in Dublin North, Dublin West and Meath - the three constituencies where it was used for the first time in Ireland yesterday.
The comment of Mrs Bridget Graham (77) after she had spent around 10 seconds casting her vote in a Dublin North polling station was typical: "Sure, a baby could do it," she said.
Mrs Graham was speaking at St Colmcille's Boys' National School in Swords where one of the computerised voting machines was not working 10 minutes after the polling station opened. But it was quickly sorted out.
Speaking later at St Colmcille's, the presiding officer said everything had run smoothly after the error had been rectified and there was nobody who had been unable to vote because of the problem.
"It was a human error, but it was humans who fixed it too," he said.
The main concern voiced before polling began in the three constituencies was that older people and the visually impaired might find it difficult to view their electronic preferences. While most people said this was not a problem, there were voters who wished they had brought their reading glasses.
"I brought the wrong spectacles," said Mrs Joan Begg (73) after she had struggled for a few minutes with the new technology. "The ones I am wearing are for distance . . . I did the best I could," she said.
In Edoxtown School in Rathfeigh, Co Meath, Father John Curry (75) spent some time staring intently at the ballot paper and electronic buttons on the lone machine before pressing the Cast Vote option.
"It is a great idea," he said. "My sight is not awfully good so I was just checking the numbers."
A pensioner, Mrs Bridget Kennedy, voted after Father Curry and looked incredulous when asked if she thought she might find it difficult.
"I think I will cope, I'm not senile yet," she said. "And I have my preferences well rehearsed."
Staff at a number of polling stations said older people had been "tickled pink" by the new technology.
Some younger people felt the wait was longer than had been in the case in the past.
"With the old system, I never had to wait, it was just in and out," said Sinéad Lally, after casting her vote in Dublin North.
Others thought the layout of the voting interface could have been improved. A computer expert, Mr Brendan Osborne, suggested the digital display could be made bigger.
Young children seemed intrigued by the state-of-the-art technology while their parents were happy to let them huddle around the booths as they placed their vote. Martin Mc- Gonagle held his nine-month-old daughter Lorna in his arms as he voted. "I found it OK," he said. "But the display screens are very dull; it would be hard for older people to see them."
At the polling station in Yellow Furze, Co Meath, Green candidate Fergal O'Byrne agreed, adding that while he could see how some people might have problems his own experience of voting was "flawless".
A spokeswoman for the Returning Officer for Dublin North and Dublin West said the pilot scheme had gone well. "There have been a few hiccups but we had no complaints at all from the public," she said.
The Chief Returning Officer for Meath, Ms Maura Teehan, said she was reasonably happy with the system.
"It has worked well," she said.
The Department of the Environment was also happy with the result and said, after the problem in Swords was addressed "everything is working as smoothly as we would have expected".
When polling closed at 10.30 p.m. last night, the electronic "modules" in each voting machine were transported to count centres at City West and Navan. The new system will be introduced to the other 39 constituencies around the State for the next general election.