FF gunslingers bring on Indians in battle to sell electronic voting

MARTIN CULLEN’S hired PR guns hit back against the apparent lack of public confidence in electronic voting yesterday by highlighting the faith Indian voters have in the system.

Following an opinion poll showing the majority of the electorate want e-voting to be scrapped until there is a back-up paper record, the environment minister’s €4.7 million publicity campaign swooped into action by proclaiming: ‘India Chooses Electronic Voting’.

Colloquially known as “buddies of Fianna Fáil”, Q4 Public Relations point out that India, the world’s largest democracy, with a population of a billion people, has chosen to forge ahead with e-voting.

“668 million registered voters will use over a million electronic voting machines when they go to the polls in April, making India the first country in the world to adopt 100% electronic voting,” a spokesperson said.

Coming the day after an opinion poll in The Sunday Business Post revealed that the controversial voting change may also further reduce the turnout in Irish elections, it’s heartening to know the Indians are embracing the phenomenon.

Just last month, when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern informed the Dáil that hundreds of millions of voters in the sub-continent would be using e-voting, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte pointed out the public weren’t terribly concerned with the Indians, but rather were worried about the cowboys in Fianna Fáil.

Nothing new in the Indian connection then, so is it possible this confidence-building declaration was issued yesterday to combat the latest wave of public scepticism?

“No. Not at all. It has been something we have been working on for quite some time,” the spokesperson said.

Marvellous to see what €4.7 million gets you these days.

Q4 Public Relations, whose management team includes former FF general secretary Martin Mackin and former Taoiseach’s adviser Jackie Gallagher, is a key part of a consortium awarded the electronic voting publicity campaign. Mr Cullen’s personal adviser and former election campaign director Monica Leech sat on the panel responsible for awarding the controversial contract.

However, just like a slinking Cobra, there’s a slight sting in the tail as the voting machine to be used in India is a different make to Nedap/Powervote system to be adopted by the Irish electorate.

But on the bright side, it employs many of the same features, including a ballot unit which displays the candidates and their photos and a control unit for operation by the polling staff.

“Like the Irish system, the Indian system does not employ a voter-verified audit trail, or paper trail,” the PR spokesperson said.