Electronic voting is likely to be partially used in the next general elections. A recent agreement between the ruling camp and the Democratic Party of Japan on a revision of a related bill has assured its enactment in the current Diet session.
But problems such as the cost and reliability of the voting method must be addressed. In electronic voting, a voter chooses a candidate by touching the screen of a computer terminal. In 2002, a special law went into force, letting municipalities use such voting in local elections if they have enacted related bylaws. So far, the method has been used in 17 elections in only 10 municipalities equipped with such bylaws.
During last year's ordinary Diet session, lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito submitted a bill to revise the special law to allow municipalities that have the related bylaws to use electronic voting in Diet elections as well. Although the bill passed the Lower House in December 2007, the DPJ in the Upper House demanded use of electronic voting machines that print out the names of candidates chosen by voters for verification by voters and election management commissions.