Electronic voting at bishops' meeting has its ups and downs

Published: 2004-11-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Like the rest of the nation two weeks earlier, the U.S. bishops faced the question of whether paper or electronic ballots were better when they voted during their annual fall general meeting in Washington. But unlike voters in the civic elections just completed, the bishops did not have to concern themselves with the positions on pro-life issues of the nominees for conference offices, they were jokingly advised. For only the second time, the bishops cast most of their votes during this year's meeting in Washington using hand-held electronic devices. After practice votes Nov. 15 that revealed a 2-to-1 preference for Memorial Day over Labor Day, the gizmos the size of television remote controls smoothly tallied votes for president and vice president of the conference and votes on a series of questions about operating procedures and a proposed plenary council. The system efficiently sorted which bishops were entitled to vote on which measures and produced results in seconds. On some votes, such as those involving finances, only bishops who head dioceses may vote. Other votes are limited to only Latin-rite bishops.

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