IF you could vote with your mobile phone, would you be more interested in voting? The Government hopes you will.

Given the poor turnout figures at the last election, politicians are trying find a way to make the rest of us more interested in voting.

The most promising idea is to change the way we vote, from polling booths in school halls to remote controls and keypads in just about any location you can think of.

Thirty local councils will be experimenting with electronic voting at the next round of elections this coming May.

These first attempts at digital voting might cause some chaotic scenes, especially for people trying to register their vote in an unfamiliar way, and giving up in frustration if it proves too difficult.

But electronic voting is the most obvious route for modernisation of the whole democratic system.