Electronic voting was used for the first time in eight years nationwide in the mayoral and municipal assembly by-elections held in Shijonawate, Osaka Prefecture. The mayoral election on Sunday was also notable for its unconventional open application process for candidates.
The city rented approximately 200 tablet devices from Kyocera to handle votes electronically. Voters could complete their ballots by tapping the screen three times. Data was saved onto USB memory sticks and tallied at the counting center.
The number of staff at the polling stations was increased to help voters use the devices, while the staff at the counting center was reduced from 84 to about 30 compared to the previous mayoral and municipal assembly by-election in December 2020.
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