BRITAIN’S electors will be allowed to vote by mobile-phone text message in elections within three years to help reverse the decline in turnout.

Ministers believe that using voting techniques pioneered by popular television programmes such as Pop Idol will encourage more young people to participate in polls.

The move overrides the Electoral Commission, which warned recently that pilots of text messaging in local elections had proved to be of “limited value” in increasing turnout and that the technology was potentially insecure.

The plan, to be set out in a wide-ranging electoral reform bill this autumn, will be accompanied by a big reduction in polling booths as ministers attempt to encourage the public into electronic voting via e-mails, the internet, digital television and text messages.

“E-voting is a key measure to tackle so-called disengagement among young people,” said a Whitehall source. “Given the rapidly increasing use of text messages it is crucial that this is properly developed as a method of voting.”

At the last general election just 40% of 18 to 24-year-olds voted, compared with 60% of the overall adult population, itself the lowest turnout since 1918. If the proportion of young voters increased, experts believe it would benefit Labour. One opinion poll earlier this year showed a majority of three to one in favour of Labour against the Tories.

Just as controversial, however, could be a proposal being considered by ministers to increase the £500 deposit for parliamentary candidates to curb the number of extremist entrants. It again puts the government at odds with the commission, which wants the £500 deposit abolished to encourage more people to stand and give voters a wider choice.

Experts say a rise in the cost would restrict the democratic right of individuals to stand in elections. In the last general election, Labour was embarrassed when a junior minister was defeated by a doctor campaigning over the closure of a hospital in his constituency.

The changes will be signalled this summer in chancellor Gordon Brown’s spending review when he is expected to announce more than £150m to expand “e-voting”. Ministers want to introduce e-voting for elections from 2007.

To vote in future, every person would have to register on a national computer database, replacing town hall lists of households. They would then get a unique security code to vote by text message, e-mail, digital television or over the internet. Votes would be electronically counted, allowing for near immediate declarations once polling closes.

People could also opt to vote by post. Some polling stations will initially be retained to pacify traditionalists but computer terminals, rather than voting cards, may be used in the booths for casting votes.

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