Cuenca will be first to vote electronically

The the Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) has chosen Cuenca and Azuay Province for a pilot project using electronic voting machines. The machines will be used for the first time in the Feb. 23 provincial and municiapl elections.

CNE plans to shift the entire country to electronic voting within the next two election cycles.

Azuay was chosen for the pilot because of its high rate of Internet and computer use. According to CNE, Cuenca has the highest rate of computer ownership and Internet use in the country. The 2010 census reported that 40.2 percent of the population owned a computer and 34.1 percent had access to the Internet.

Beginning in November, CNE has manned displays allowing citizens to try out the new voting machines. CNE acknowledges that it will not reach the entire population with its educational outreach prior to the election and plans to have representatives at all voting precincts to provide instruction for the new machines.