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A St Andrews University computer science postgraduate is assessing the potential of e-voting to help avoid a repeat of the disappointing turnout in the Scottish elections, writes Olga Wojtas.

Tim Storer, who is carrying out a ?50,000 three-year project for Microsoft, is researching the possibility of voters being able to vote from home or anywhere in the world through email or text messaging. Just over half of Scottish voters made it to polling stations last Thursday.

In Mr Storer's system, a voter is sent a unique ID number and a list of ID numbers for each candidate through the post.

Voters would choose the number they wanted and then vote through text messaging or by email.