Bertie ahern, Ireland's former prime minister, once lamented that his countrymen still cast ballots with "stupid old pencils". Now his enthusiasm for electronic voting looks premature. Ireland has just scrapped 7,500 devices, bought for €51m ($66m) in 2002-3, but never used amid worries about reliability. A recycling firm bought the lot for €70,000: about €9 each. Electronic voting machines are popular in emerging economies. But they are falling out of fashion in the rich world, where internet voting is a growing trend. Nine European states have tested electronic machines, yet only Belgium uses them widely.
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