Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1094338
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 MARCH 2019 3 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "We are proposing a hybrid system that includes a manual check of votes before the elec- tronic scanning starts so that any invalid votes are flagged immediately and a decision is taken by the party representa- tives and the Electoral Com- mission on what to do with the vote," Puli said. Angelito Sciberras from the PN's electoral office said that a test run of 628 invalid votes showed that 30 ballots – 5% of the total – were deemed to be valid by the electronic system despite them clearly being in- valid. Puli said the manual checks will be carried out throughout the night between Saturday and Sunday when ballot boxes are opened at the counting hall. Puli said the party was not expecting the proposed manu- al step to lengthen the process. He insisted that the electronic scanning of votes would prob- ably still be able to start at 7am as was being prospected by the Electoral Commission. "Our intention is to ensure that the counting process de- livers the result intended by voters, while making sure that corrupt practices are weeded out," he said, adding this would give people peace of mind. The draft law put forward by the government sought to overcome the difficulties by allowing parties access to the scans for a period of three months after the counting ends. PN MP Karol Aquilina said the law should allow the po- litical parties access to the da- ta and scans up to four hours that the result is known and no information should leave the counting hall. "We are also proposing sub- stantially harsher fines and prison term for anyone who takes out any scans or data from the counting hall," Aqui- lina said. The proposals have been for- warded to the government for consideration. "We realise that May is around the corner and we are willing to cooperate with the government to get this law dis- cussed and approved in Parlia- ment at the earliest if what we are proposing is accepted," Puli said. Malta will for the first time introduce electronic vote counting in the European Par- liament and local council elec- tions next May. The system is expected to de- liver a speedier official result. The Electoral Commission has said that it expects all six elected MEPs to be known by Sunday night as opposed to three days' later. However, party agents who were present for the trial runs and who spoke to MaltaToday said that in some instances a number one preference that crossed two boxes – which in normal circumstances would be considered a dubious vote – was awarded by the computer to the candidate above and a seven awarded to the candi- date below. Other marks such as full stops or wiggly numbers, which are normally flagged as dubious and evaluated by party representatives were not picked up by the system. Refining the algorithm would have flagged almost all votes as dubious. To overcome these prob- lems, the PN is now proposing a manual check prior to the start of the scanning process. No vote scans should leave the counting hall, PN insists PN secretary general Clyde Puli (right) said the electronic scanning of votes would probably still be able to start at 7am