He described how he was assigned to check an electronic voting system being used in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The ballot's organizers assured him that adequate audit procedures were in place, but could not describe them as they were 'confidential." Nor could they produce conclusive evidence that the voting machines would start with a vote count of zero in their memories.

Some of the risks of e-voting are to do with less-than-competent technicians, but much of the fault, Gotterbarn says, lies with 'technological determinism' ' a belief that says because a technology exists to do something it should, therefore, be done using that technology.

'I'm sure getting everyone to put a microchip in their pet dog will do a lot to stop wild pack-dogs biting people,' commented Gotterbarn wryly, referring to NZ's recent row over tagging pets.

Conventional analysis of the risks and benefits of a technology tends to focus too narrowly on budget, timing and technical adherence to a specification, says Gotterbarn.

But, this usually disregards the needs of many of the stakeholders involved.