THUNDER BAY -- An at-large councillor wants the city to be more democratic and accessible by introducing electronic voting and settling a council vacancy policy.
Coun. Iain Angus is introducing the pair of ideas Monday night. Seeing the success of electronic voting in Shuniah and Greenstone, along with the frustration at Thunder Bay polling stations in the last municipal election, Angus said it's time the city adopts electronic voting along with the traditional paper ballot system.
The idea would also help those with accessibility needs and might even get more young voters to participate.
'It's a win-win all the way around," he said. "I think it's a benefit all around by moving to this kind of system."
Angus is also asking administration to figure out the best way for council to deal with vacancies, should one arise, at the table.
The Municipal Act gives city councils options but Angus said it's time to decide which is the right one.
He'd like to see a by-election if the vacancy is within the first three-and-a-half years of a term.
When council is left to appoint a new councillor, it sometimes becomes a debate about which person council likes more.
Just selecting the runner-up of a ward or at-large might not actually be the public's second choice because most people don’t vote with the runner-up in mind he said.
"I think this is the most democratic way," he said. "It keeps personalities and politics out of the issue and turns it back to the electorate where it belongs in the first place," Angus said.
