Guernsey States to pursue electronic voting

Voting in the States is currently carried out vocally or by secret ballot

A move to introduce electronic voting into the States of Guernsey has been defeated in favour of another report into the subject.

Deputy Mary Lowe brought back a report that was defeated in November after she said there had been calls for voting records during the election in April.

The issue has previously been debated by States members on five different occasions.

Deputies voted 30-15 in favour of commissioning the new report.

It will be carried out by the States Assembly and Constitution Committee, of which Deputy Lowe was vice-chairwoman before the election.

It follows criticism of the report produced by the previous committee by its new chairman, Deputy Matt Fallaize.

He said the "omissions and weaknesses" in that report had led the States to reject it and had not been addressed in the interim.

Deputy Fallaize said his committee would look at the arguments for and against, the costs of different systems and the practical and procedural impacts of its introduction.