By Michael Lloyd

The first election to be conducted purely by a postal ballot in Scotland has seen a "big improvement" in voter numbers.

The results of the by-election for the Teith ward of Stirling Council were declared on Thursday evening, with the Tories holding onto the seat.

Council officials and the Scottish Executive were eagerly awaiting the outcome of the contest, which could change the way we vote.

When we compare it with the last by-election here two years ago, there has been a big improvement

Stirling Council spokesman

The pilot scheme saw a turn-out of 63.2% - compared to a figure of 43% when the area's last by-election was held in 2000.

"This has been a pretty good result for a by-election and the postal ballot appears to have worked," said a council spokesman.

"When we compare it with the last by-election here two years ago, there has been a big improvement."

Tory candidate Paul Nelson won the seat, which fell vacant following the death of Councillor Alastair Reid in November, with a majority of 165 from the Scottish National Party.

Speaking before the result was announced, Stirling's returning officer Keith Yates said he was enthusiastic about the prospects.

The Teith result was announced on Thursday

He said: "In similar schemes in England, postal voting has resulted in big increases in turnout.

"This change in voting procedures has come about as a result of a recent Scottish Executive initiative, allowing councils to try out innovative electoral systems to make voting easier and improve turnout."

The postal ballot is just one example of new thinking about elections.

South of the border more than 30 'experimental' pilots, of a variety of voting methods, are taking place.

They range from touch-screen voting in polling booths, to internet and even mobile phone text voting.

'Gateshead effect'

Leader of the House of Commons, Robin Cook, has highlighted the problem of voter apathy, following the low turnout at last year's General Election.

These pilots are seen by Tom Hawthorne, a research manager at the Electoral Commission, as a way of discovering if turnout can be boosted.

"We want to see if those previously not voting are encouraged to take part in the ballot," said Mr Hawthorne.

People are turning their backs on elections

"There's not enough information to judge if they will be a success at the moment, but we have commissioned an independent evaluation of these schemes."

Some positive evidence does exist. Recently Gateshead polled its citizens to see if they wanted a mayor.

Double the number of voters took part in wards using the postal ballot than in wards where conventional polling stations were used.

However, these new voting methods are not without their problems.

Electronic voting by phone or internet can be vulnerable to 'personation' - people pretending to be someone else to cast multiple votes.

'Safe and secure'

But the Electoral Reform Society, which recently published an analysis of alternative voting methods, thinks the difficulties can be overcome.

"I am confident systems exist to make sure voting is safe and secure," said spokesman Alex Folkes.

"It's a question of trialling different methods and starting small - not with a General Election for example."

Mr Yates said: "Pilots are the right way to test these new ideas."