ALTHOUGH the country has said no to AV, there is surprising consensus that the way we vote needs to change.

As a previous councillor, I attended the Queens Park Ward as a counting agent.

The ward had created great interest as the former Conservative leader switched wards for some strange reason after many years as a Central Ward councillor.

This resulted in a record number of candidates standing for many different parties. The way in which the votes were counted was fraught to say the least.

The voting paper was lined up and ticked manually on to another sheet, then tallied.

Well you can imagine with 14 candidates and people spreading their votes this took forever.

The result on the evening was the two Consevative councillors re-elected. The third place – on a night the Echo’s Darren Slade said the Lib Dems were looking like being annihilated – showed sitting Liberal Democrat councillor Carol Ainge in the lead by three votes over Stephen MacLoughlin.

It was approximately 5am. Understandably the sitting Tory councillors asked for a re-count.

The count resumed at noon in the Town Hall. Sadly, as is the right of any candidate, one of the Tory councillors kept insisting on a recount. Eventually, some five hours later and at great expense of officers’ time, the result was declared and Carol Ainge, Liberal Democrat, was re-elected by two votes.

Had we had an electronic voting system, we would not have gone through the expense of recounts and stress to both Steven Macloughlin and the re elected Carol Ainge.

The way to increase votes in local elections is by embracing modern technology.

MIKE CARLILE, Bennett Road, Charminster