agendaNi issue 107

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public affairs agenda

Electronic and remote voting With many legislatures now returning to a relative normality, considerations are being given as to whether electronic and remote voting, scaled up during the pandemic, should remain as a permanent feature. David Whelan looks at whether the Northern Ireland Assembly is behind the curve in its use of digital technology. The pandemic forced legislatures across the world to adapt new ways of working to allow for the continuation of parliamentary business, including the introduction of electronic voting and remote voting. In Northern Ireland however, in response to the pandemic, the Assembly introduced temporary provisions in Standing Orders to allow proxy voting until January 2021. Unlike neighbouring legislatures, the

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public affairs agenda

Northern Ireland Assembly did not have an electronic voting system in place to allow for expansion of the system to facilitate digital remote voting. Standing Orders 112 and 115 allow for proxy voting in the chamber and committees respectively (along with other measures for committees including voting by video link or telephone) and the Procedures Committee is considering instances in which proxy voting could be

retained on a more permanent basis and how this might be reflected in Standing Orders. Northern Ireland appears to be behind the curve when considering actions taken by neighbouring legislatures. A research paper for the Committee on Procedures by the Northern Ireland Assembly’s research and information service recently took stock of the use of electronic voting in other legislatures and the effect of Covid-19 on business-asusual. In Scotland, an electronic system of voting in Parliament has been in place since the Parliament opened in 2004. In 2011, the system had to be replaced at a cost of £270,000 due to the supplier no longer being able to maintain the system. At the outset of the pandemic, the Parliament legislated for a change that allowed other voting systems to be used in the Chamber. The remote voting system was first used in the week commencing 11 August 2020 and Scotland’s Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee has now recommended a permanent change. The Welsh Parliament is also an electronic debating chamber, with members’ individual computers having access to information relevant to plenary proceeding and dull access to the rest of their ICT system. In July 2020, secure


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