ELECTRONIC VOTING

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Electronic Voting can be used as a stand-alone consultation technique, or as part of another method – such as a public meeting, seminar or workshop. It is an enjoyable interactive technique and is good for promoting discussion.

It can be used in a number of ways:

• Breaking the ice with the audience to establish an interactive meeting tone
• Conducting training sessions
• Testing and evaluating ideas
• Data gathering for market research and decision makers
• Facilitating group decision making
• Polling participants opinions
• Holding elections (voting and other parliamentary processes)

E-Voting works by using 50 (or fewer) identical radio keypads given to members of the audience/target group. Each handset has 9 option buttons that enable people to participate in the debate and register their opinion. These are used to vote in a wide variety of ways on different issues and questions that have been pre-programmed into the system beforehand. The pre-programmed questions have multiple-choice answers from a simple YES or NO vote to more complex answers of up to 9 options.

Data can also be collected regarding the participants e.g. where they live, gender, age range, education or employment status etc.

Votes are captured by a receiver and then fed to a laptop that automatically collates the results. All the votes are then projected onto a screen for everyone to see. The voting information is saved in the computer for later analysis.

COST

It costs approximately £50 per hour to hire the Evoting equipment from West Mercia Constabulary, however this varies according to how much preparatory work is required in terms of setting up the questions. In addition there is also the cost of venue, refreshments etc to be taken into consideration. The Youth Service also have e-voting equipment.

CONTACT

To hire the Electronic Voting equipment from the Youth Service contact:

Ant Marsh, E Youth Worker. Telephone 01905 22576 Email antmarsh@worcestershire.gov.uk

OR

To hire West Mercia Constabulary’s Electronic Voting equipment contact:

Joanne Horder, Satisfaction and Confidence Team, Organisational Development Unit, West Mercia Constabulary HQ, Hindlip Hall, Hindlip, PO Box 55, Worcester. WR3 8SP Telephone 01905 338823

Email joanne.horder@westmercia.pnn.police.uk

WHEN TO USE

When you want to gauge opinion in a larger forum – particularly with people who may be reticent to express their opinions in a public forum. Has been used successfully with young people, Citizens Panel and public meetings.

POINTS TO THINK ABOUT

Electronic voting requires careful preparation to ensure that the questions asked are suitable for the format. You also need to think carefully about how you will use the results that you have obtained.

All questions have to be pre-programmed into the E-voting software in advance. Prepare and finalise questions well in advance so that the person entering the information has adequate time to do this and that you have time to check and make changes.

Use a compare to read out the questions, facilitate discussion and give feedback. It is also beneficial to have relevant Officers present to respond to issues raised. Give handouts listing the questions you are asking, this way no one misses anything.

Venue – use a suitable sized room where people can be seated comfortably. Everyone must be able to see the screen and hear the compare easily. Use rooms away from any noise or disturbance.

PROS

• Encourages participation and interaction.
• Enables people to participate who may otherwise be reticent to give their views.
• Prevents public meetings being dominated by those who hold strong, but not necessarily majority opinion.

CONS

• The types of questions that can be asked are can be limiting – however they can be used to spark further discussion.
• The numbers of people are limited by the number of keypads available.

USEFUL LINKS

Select this link if you are planning a Youthink Event  (59.81 KB)

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/home/cs/con/cs-research-citizen/cs-research-citizen-festive-2003.htm