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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 20, 2004
Filed at 9:46 a.m. ET

India Implements Computerized Voting

NEW DELHI (AP) -- For decades, millions of illiterate Indians voted by
pressing their thumbprints on ballot cards. This year, they'll just
press a button. And so will everyone else.

India's general elections, which began Tuesday, are set to make the
world's largest democracy also the world's largest user of
computerized voting machines.

This year, in a staggered vote that runs through May 10, India's 660
million registered voters will be able to exercise their franchise on
one of approximately 1 million computerized voting machines in an
electronic, ballot-less election.

Other countries, including Brazil, the United States, and the
Netherlands, also use electronic voting machines, but in smaller
numbers.

The change in India is having a deep impact on politics. Supporters
say it's also good for the environment in a country trying to save its
vanishing forests. More than 8,000 tons (8,820 US tons) of paper, made
from approximately 16 million trees, has been used to print ballots
for past federal elections.

And the machines, used in smaller numbers in past years, are being
used to tackle one of the biggest problems in Indian elections: vote
fraud. .....

...... The small, portable machines, manufactured by the state-run
Bharat Electronics, consist of a control unit operated by polling
officials, and a balloting unit where people vote.

At the first sign of trouble, polling officials can shut down the
machines at the press of a button. While they can be restarted,
officials insist that additional security measure will make it much
harder to manipulate the polls.

If nothing else, they're a novelty for voters.

``I am going to polling booth just to see the electronic voting
machine,'' said Mahendra Majhi, an illiterate farmer in the
Biramitrapur village of the eastern Orissa state.

``I am excited that I am not lagging behind but also operating a
modern machine,'' said farmer Babul Deka in the northeastern state of
Assam.

But the machines have not been entirely problem-free.

On Tuesday, machines developed problems in some parts of the country,
forcing voting to be suspended briefly while they were fixed.

And some officials say voters don't understand how to use them.

``We are really apprehensive if most of the people can make the right
choice,'' said Ajoi Kalita, 36, a polling agent in Assam state. ``Not
enough demonstration has been given to the people as to how the
machines are operated.''

In the central Chhattisgarh state, militants opposed to the polls
attacked election officials, injuring four of them and snatching the
voting machines.