SWINDON Council's pioneering electronic voting scheme has been hailed a success even though turnout at the recent borough elections was one of the lowest in memory.

The council was one of a handful in the country to experiment with alternative voting methods including the internet, telephone, digital TV and information kiosks throughout the town.

But turnout was just 29 per cent reinforcing the problem of voter apathy facing authorities up and down the country.

Twenty five per cent of those who cast a vote at the borough elections on May 1 used these alternative methods.

But the pilot scheme, which was funded in its entirety by central government, has an uncertain future. Next year's European elections could see a return to the more traditional trip to the polling station because current law states that alternative voting methods cannot be used at such an election.

Civic chiefs still have to find a way of shattering voter apathy and disinterest in local government given the dismal turnout from Swindon's population of 180,000.

By far the most popular alternative voting method was the internet, which was used by 11,055 people with a minimum of difficulty.

Candidate profiles were also posted online making it easier to obtain information quickly.

Alan Winchcombe, Swindon Council's electoral and office services manager, said: "The whole point was to make voting easier for people considering the way we live nowadays.

"We had more people voting this year than last year, but more people were eligible to vote this year that's why turnout was down, which is disappointing. "A turnout of 29 per cent is still quite low, but in line with the national trend. However, we were delighted with the internet voting, which was used by 75 per cent more people than last year.

"Every hour of the 150 hours that internet voting was available someone was voting and 21 per cent of people that voted via the internet just wouldn't have bothered otherwise, which means turnout would have gone down."

The findings come after the Electoral Commission published its evaluation report on the e-voting pilot scheme.

The commission said the borough's alternative voting project was well managed and security was tight specialists employed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister were unable to compromise the system.

However, concern was raised at the potential for electoral offences and malpractice.

May's elections were a night to forget for Labour who lost six seats. Although the Conserva-tives gained six seats, the council is still hung, with no overall party in control.