Letter: At least you can't hack into a ballot box

Sir: Bob Young (letter, 15 May), extols the "Theatre of the Count", and his comments on the visible checks and balances provided by paper ballots are pertinent.

Further points differentiate electronic and paper voting. Running totals physically exist throughout electronic voting, but not in a ballot box. While this is irrelevant for public voting in a debating chamber, there is potential for abuse in general elections with polling open for 15 hours.

It is not simply that the result might be faked. Mere detection of running totals would be of immense value to party machines: workers could be deployed with absolute certainty; voters might be influenced. Millions are already expended in the pursuit of power - what might an unscrupulous party spend to detect an electronic count?

KEN BLANSHARD,

Burgess Hill, West Sussex