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The implementation of Simultaneous Electronic Voting in the States Assembly is running two months overdue owing to “unavoidable circumstances”, according to the States Assembly & Constitution Committee (SACC).
The new technology was planned to be fully launched for the States meeting on 13 July, but now a soft launch for the system is scheduled for the next States meeting on 7 September.
The soft launch was also originally planned for a States meeting on June 28, but this did not occur because of meetings “needing to be rescheduled”.
Pictured: Members of the States Assembly & Constitution Committee.
SACC says that the absence of both Presiding Officers for the meeting on 13 July, which was expected to last a full three days, meant that “all three Acting Presiding Officers (Deputies Gollop, Roffey and Trott) would alternate over the course of the meeting”.
“With regards to SEV, given the expected length and anticipated complexity of the Meeting and that the experienced Presiding Officers were not available, it was agreed that the priority was to hold a successful physical Meeting of the States.”
Due to this, SACC said it “felt unwise to include the introduction of a new voting system too. Instead, the decision was taken to defer to ensure a successful launch of SEV at a future meeting”.
It added that there have been “no major implications” on officer resource because of the delay.
The new voting system will see the end of Guernsey deputies calling out ‘pour’, ‘contre’, or ‘je ne vote pas’ when voting on propositions, instead pressing buttons on handsets which will instantly tally and record votes.
A media session is planned to show off the new technology.
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