Detailed view of IBM optical document readers at the IBM Research Centre in Zurich. (ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Image achive / Photo: Vogt, Jules)
ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv
The IBM System 360 was a big attraction at the IBM research centre. The magnetic tape station is to the left of the photo; disc stations with removable discs are at the front and in the background. (ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Image achive / Photo: Vogt, Jules)
ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv
Sorting tray that collected the unreadable vouchers. (ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Image achive / Photo: Vogt, Jules)
ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv
Attempts at counting votes with the IBM computer. (ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Image achive / Photo: Vogt, Jules)
ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv
The possibility of using computers to count the votes of the Swiss population had been in discussion for some time before a large-scale experiment took place in a district of canton Zurich on February 1, 1970, with the help of the IBM Computer System/360.
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Born in England, I've lived in Switzerland since 1994. I trained as a graphic designer in Zurich between 1997 – 2002. More recently I have moved on to work as photo editor and joined the team at swissinfo.ch in March 2017.
Although the Zurich city council had been operating small computers since 1965, the use of computers in administration was still in its infancy – and was highly controversial when it came to voting.
Few media reports exist on the experiment, but it is known that for the vote on February 1, 1970 a ballot paper was developed which wasn’t to be answered with a handwritten yes or no, but with a cross in the correct place. This particular vote was on the construction of a local hospital, money for school trips and road extension in Zurich.
Voters were assured that ballots would first be counted by hand and then used by the computer as a test.
The following day, the headline in the local Zurich newspaper, the Tages-Anzeiger, was that the trying out of new ballots had been a success. The reporter had observed that people had filled out the form correctly; what the reporter did not mention was whether the computer had counted the votes correctly. The mystery remains!
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