The count of yesterday’s paper ballots will be computer assisted.
Gone are the days of ACT Electoral Commission staff counting ballot papers by putting them in piles under each candidate’s name and then distributing preferences also by physically moving ballot papers from pile to pile – a very time consuming process.
(In the first ACT election in 1989 – run by the Federal Australian Electoral Commission – it took several weeks for the count to be finished.)
This election the numbers on each ballot paper will be keyed into a computer. To ensure accuracy, each ballot paper is keyed in by two separate people and only if the keying in is identical will the computer accept the input. Once all the ballots are keyed in, it will be a simple process for the computer to compute the flow of preferences and declare the 17 winners.
In fact that process has already been completed with the 20,000 or so electronic votes. At some booths and at pre-polling, voters had the option of voting electronically – a first in Australia and perhaps the world. It also meant that visually impaired people could vote in private for the first time.
Before the keying in begins next week, however, first preferences of each ballot were counted manually last night.
Electoral Commissioner, Phil Green, said that all tests showed that keying in of ballots was more accurate and quicker than manually moving ballots. The double keying verification process ensured that. The only time an error could occur is if both keyboard operators keyed the same error – and even then, the computer alerts for errors like a number being missed or the same number being repeated.