Public Sector | Electoral Reform Services

The Company

Established in 1884 Electoral Reform Services (ERS) are Britain's leading provider of ballot advisory, management and associated services to UK and worldwide organisations. They are an independent, not-for-profit administration with a fully integrated in-house service.

The Problem

ERS wanted to expand their offering and utilise the latest technologies to enable voters to participate from their home; making ERS the only not-for-profit ballot organisation in the UK offering a fully interactive telephone voting service.

The Solution

BCH designed a bespoke 1000 line IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system, to which a freephone number was assigned for voters to call. The system was rigorously tested to ensure security and voter anonymity.

Upon calling this number, voters are greeted by a welcome message and then a description of the procedure they are required to follow. They are then asked to enter their security number and voting intention by pressing the corresponding keys on their telephone keypad. The voter's responses are repeated back to them and confirmation is sought before the vote is cast. If any numbers are mis-keyed (invalid security number for example) the error will be explained and the caller is re-routed back to the earlier part of the menu so that data can be re-entered. The call is ended with a Thank You message and an instruction to replace the receiver.

Following this smooth and successful implementation, ERS returned to BCH to design and implement a SMS voting system, enabling voters to vote via there mobile phone, in a short, precise transaction.

Voters text their security number together with their voting intention in a single text message. A confirmation text will then be sent to confirm that the vote was received and understood.

The SMS votes being hosted by BCH before being transmitted to the secure ERS system for verification. The system can be applied to most STV (single transferable vote) elections as well as X vote ballots and elections. In each case the voter's anonymity is maintained and the system rigorously tested to ensure security.

Joe Wadsworth, Director & Systems Manager, Electoral Reform Services: "We chose BCH to supply our IVR system because of their ability to deliver in the short timescales we needed and have been delighted with their technical competence and professional service. We chose BCH again recently for our SMS service that has been implemented smoothly with no issues. We would not hesitate recommending BCH products and services."