BAFF has accepted that there is no practical prospect of the necessary changes to electoral legislation, let alone the complex technical and administrative arrangements, being achieved in time to allow electronic voting by service personnel and their families in the UK General Election which could take place in May 2010.

The possibility of new voting arrangements such as electronic voting for service voters overseas is, however, being looked at with a view to consideration for possible inclusion in future electoral legislation.

UPDATE MARCH 2010 - Some links about electronic voting or 'e-Voting':

Explanations of e-Voting and where it has been used:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-voting
• http://aceproject.org/ace-en/focus/e-voting/
• http://www.e-voting.cc/ (non-https website)

Some more critical websites:

• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/30/evoting_another_uk_government_gimmick/http://blackboxvoting.org/
• [broken links removed 2024]

Previous views on electronic voting for service voters

This is from

4.4  Remote electronic voting

On the face of it, electronic voting (e-voting) would appear to be an attractive alternative to proxy and postal methods of absent voting, especially for voters overseas. Several respondents have indicated to us that they would be prepared to consider using remote electronic voting if it could be “guaranteed” to be accurate, secure and secret. It was suggested on the “Army Rumour Service” website that as issues of identification and access are easier to address within the military environment, service voters might well be an appropriate group to involve in any further trials in actual elections.

We therefore welcome the Secretary of State’s agreement to investigate the suggestion of a controlled trial of electronic voting for Her Majesty's forces, along with any other constructive proposals.

Silence in the Ranks went on to say, however, that

After further reviewing the available literature on experience of electronic voting overseas,however, we now have greater doubts as to how the secrecy, accuracy and integrity of remote electronic voting can be adequately guaranteed.

We had taken into account the results of the election pilots which had been held in a number of English local authorities, and the debate in the United States and elsewhere.

We are not aware of any controlled trial of electronic voting for service voters ever having taken place in the UK, but the possibility of such a voting method has continued to come up from time to time.