A dozen new Dáil deputies will go to bed safely elected shortly after polls close in the forthcoming general election, saved by technology from the traditional agonies of the election count.
The Cabinet decided yesterday that electronic voting would be tested in Dublin North, Dublin West and Meath in the imminent general election as a prelude to using the system nationwide in the 2004 local government elections.
When polls close at 9 p.m., the electronic "modules" in each voting machine in polling stations will be removed and transported to a central count centre.
These modules will be plugged in to central counting machines which will produce a result, according to a Department of the Environment spokesman, "within half an hour of the last module being plugged in". This should be before midnight, he said.
Counting in the remaining 39 constituencies will not begin until 9 a.m. the following day, although the results from the three constituencies will for the first time produce a very strong indicator to the national result the night before the full count begins. However, for some candidates it will be well into that night before they know their own fate, and for an unlucky few in some recent elections, counts and recounts have gone on for several days before a result has been confirmed.
The Government is to mount a significant public information campaign in the three constituencies to ensure voters are prepared.
A ballot paper will be displayed on the machine, with a button beside each line which will contain the name, photograph and party emblem, if any, of each candidate. The voter selects candidates in order of preference by pushing the buttons - If a mistake is made the voter can cancel the marks made up to that point and start again. When ready, the voter presses a "cast vote" button.