Voters in Liverpool and Sheffield will be able to cast their ballot by sending a mobile phone text message in May's local elections. 

The move is one of a series of trials - including post-only and online votes - being held across England and Wales. 

The aim is to boost the proportion of people who bothered to vote in elections.

The schemes were unveiled on the day the Electoral Reform Society backed new voting schemes but urged caution over security before holding large-scale online elections. 

The pilots will be crucial in building public confidence and testing technical robustness to ensure that the integrity of the poll is maintained. 

There would be an "ever more extensive" programme of pilots to open the possibility for an "e-enabled" general election some time after 2006.  In some wards in Liverpool and Sheffield, electors will be able to vote by digital television as well as via mobile phones. 

In Swindon there will be a touch-tone phone voting system, while Gateshead, North Tyneside, Stevenage and Chorley will pilot elections where people can only cast postal ballots.  A variety of other measures include extended voting hours and mobile voting kiosks. The whole package is designed to get more people to "re-engage" with politics in the wake of tumbling turnouts at recent elections. 

The text messaging system will work by voters being given PIN numbers to use if they want to vote by text message. 

The independent commission, set up by the Electoral Reform Society, had earlier cautioned against rushing into such change and recommended tight safeguards to prevent ballot fraud.