Sorry if I’m behind the times on this one. I’ve just come back from my polling station (Senedd election). The staff scanned my polling card which I didn’t mind but when they handed me my ballot it had a QR code on the back that was scanned before handing it to me.
I’m not about to jump into Facebook post levels of illuminati conspiracy. I do feel uncomfortable with my vote being directly tied back to me however. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding what this is for and perhaps this has always been the way and I’ve just noticed it for the first time because it’s digital where before they may have just logged the ballot number with pencil and paper.
Can anyone shed a bit of light on this for me please? The polling card scan is just a convenience measure for the staff but why does my ballot need to be scanned? Who operates that system and what is the data used for?
Sorry again if this is a stupid question and once more to re-iterate I don’t think the government is trying to monitor my voting habits. It just makes me uneasy