Vote counting is entirely manual in Ireland (following a comical attempt to introduce computerised voting)
Be glad it is manual. At least you won't have to wonder about a Diebold style "program for victory," like we (may have?) had in Ohio in the 2004 presidential election. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
I'm all for computerisation of most things - particularly high volume, repetitive transactions, but voting is such an occasional thing, it doesn't make sense to build a complex and expensive system to accommodate it.
Besides - the manual vote counting process is one of the great ceremonies of Irish politics and draws in a lot of people - counters, observers, party supporters etc. to create a party atmosphere - and often a lot of real tension. I'm not one for spending time in a bookies office, but for many there is real entertainment value in watching democracy in action.
We tamper with that spirit of sociability and participation at our peril. "It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
