'Dust in the air' scuppers hi-tech counting system

Experiments in electronic voting were thrown into chaos when a series of technical problems caused delays and confusion across the country.

The hi-tech vote counting machines for the mayoral elections in London were worst hit and were ridiculed after being crippled by "dust in the air" or "fluff from the green baize tablecloths" placed under the machines.

Bob Hughes, the returning officer, admitted the counting process had been a fiasco. "We have had a few machines that have gone pear-shaped," Mr Hughes said.

The 168 machines, looking like giant photocopiers, should have produced a result by 5am. However, the mechanical problems meant that it took more than 15 hours to declare the result of the mayoral election.

At Stratford-on-Avon District Council, a bold experiment in which computers were used for the voting as well as the counting produced the result only half-an-hour quicker than the traditional hand counting method.

In Bury, Greater Manchester, where one ward was chosen for electronic voting, the result was declared 56 minutes after electronic polling booths closed, to the disappointment of council staff who had hoped to announce it in just five minutes.

Gerry Stoker, a politics professor at the University of Strathclyde, said: "It seems like the more hi-tech systems have failed abysmally.

"I would like people to concentrate less on the flashy technology stuff and more on trying to get extra people to vote in the first place."

Pilot voting schemes were approved in dozens of places in the country under the Representation of the People Act 2000. As well as London, electronic counting took place at five councils, three of which also tried computer voting.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "These were pilot projects and were never going to be 100 per cent successful. The idea was to find out what works and what doesn't.

"In a way, it's quite helpful if one or two have technical problems because it helps us learn from our mistakes."