BALLOT boxes used in the Monmouth constituency on polling day for the upcoming General Election will be fitted with GPS tracker devices.
Constituents there, along with the rest of the country, will be casting their votes on Thursday December 12.
Monmouthshire County Council’s chief executive Paul Matthews, who is responsible for the smooth running of the election in the Monmouth constituency, said that adding GPS tracking devices to the ballot boxes would make the process more efficient.
Mr Matthews said: “I am considering how I can best exercise my duty of care to my presiding officers, who will be bringing the ballot boxes from each and every polling station to our counting centre in Chepstow.
“Polling stations close at 10pm and we usually receive our last ballot box in Chepstow just after midnight.
“If for any reason one or more is late, it will be useful if we can locate it as quickly as possible to ensure the wellbeing of the presiding officer and the integrity of the election, because we need to count every vote.
“Technology may help us with this.”
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A winter election brings the added concern of possible adverse weather such as heavy rain and heavy snow.
Monmouthshire is a rural county with many of its 88 polling stations tucked away in the countryside.
A spokesman for the council said: “We are very fortunate in Monmouthshire to have established a reputation of running smooth, efficient elections and this is credit to the people involved and the planning that goes on beforehand.
“We review and evaluate after every election we run and consider how we can make things even better and this always involves planning for contingencies that have never previously arisen.
“Use of technology is a core part of our thinking in everything we do and if we find something that helps us, we try it out.”
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