THUNDER BAY – Voters in the next municipal election will have new ways to cast their ballot.
City council on Monday voted to introduce internet and telephone ballots, along with in-person voting at polling stations, when city residents head to the polls in 2018 to decide the next council and school boards.
After the issue had been brought to previous councils on at least two separate occasions and had been defeated the vote was surprisingly close to unanimous. Neebing Coun. Linda Rydholm was the lone voice of opposition, though Westfort Coun. Joe Virdiramo was not in attendance at the meeting.
A number of councilors, including at-large Coun. Aldo Ruberto and Larry Hebert, as well as McKellar Coun. Paul Pugh and McIntyre Coun. Trevor Giertuga, voted in favour after previously opposing online ballots.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson said allowing electronic voting would be a progressive move that would enhance accessibility.
She also took issue with those who questioned the security of moving part of the race to the internet.
“I wonder how many of you do your banking online. I wonder how many of you buy tickets online even from our own community auditorium. I wonder how many of you shop online…I wonder how many of you buy airline tickets online,” she said.
“There is no question this is the era of technology. I am not technically inclined in many ways and yet I feel comfortable this is the way we need to move forward.”
Shuniah used internet and telephone exclusively for their municipal election, with a 10-day window open 24 hours per day where residents could cast their ballot.
That led to the municipality seeing an increased voter turnout and final results within 30 minutes of polls closing.
Ruberto said he was voting in favour because of the “debacle” from the last election, where the first results weren’t available until more than an hour after polls closed. Those delays led people to question the process.
He added it’s an inevitable change.
“It’s time to move on and adapt to technology. It’s one thing that happens in life is change. You either change or you die,” Ruberto said.
Electronic voting increased across the province in the last election, going from 44 municipalities to 97 last year.
Coun. Iain Angus said not one of those municipalities reported any issues with the technology.
Council heard from one deputant, Jon Powers, who raised questions about the security of putting ballots and voter information online and potentially drawing the risk of hackers.
Coun. Frank Pullia also had many questions about the security of a system, which city clerk John Hannam assured there would be safeguards in place to catch any threat to the system and that physical polling stations would always be an option.
That was enough to relieve his concerns, as he voted in favour.
After the meeting Hannam said he anticipates electronic voting being open during the entire election period, opening at the same time as advanced polling and concluding when physical polling stations close.
The motion still needs to be ratified at the July 20 meeting.
