VOTER REFORM: Internet voting comes to Newmarket?

NRU
January 15, 2014
By Sarah Ratchford

If you live in Newmarket, you may soon be able to vote in your pajamas and still be acceptably dressed. Why? Newmarket is considering a switch to online voting for this year’s municipal election. Town clerk and legislative services director Andrew Brouwer says the switch has less to do with upping voter turnout, and more to do with providing a higher level of convenience and accessibility for voters.

Brouwer co-authored a report going to committee of the whole next week, which recommends making the move to voting via the internet as opposed to sticking with the status quo - paper ballots read by optical scan vote tabulators. Brouwer helped to bring online voting to Markham, where he was deputy city clerk before coming to Newmarket. He says residents have made it clear that’s what they want, but whether this is the right time to implement it is up to council. Newmarket committee of the whole will consider the recommendation at its meeting January 20.

“There’s a clear message here. People are looking for convenience, for some type of digital engagement.”

If council approves online voting, Brouwer says, technically, voters could cast their ballots up to 42 or 43 days in advance. He says that’s just a possibility, though, at this point.

“The report is a model, a high-level look at what you could potentially have.”

While Brouwer says moving to an online system will enhance the convenience factor, he’s not recommending the move as a way to improve voter turnout, which was 32.6 per cent in the last election.

“Studies have shown that there is a general trend to increase in the first year for those municipalities having [moved to] internet voting, but it’s not consistent.”

He says the internet is just a way to access the process, and is no substitute for truly engaging policy debates and attention to the issues.

“The election is, hopefully, what drives the turnout. This is just the means by which you do it. It’s just like banking online, in person, or at a teller.”

He says even if council opts to stick with the status quo, he’ll continue to find ways to bring technological innovation to the election, such as creating an app for people to find voting locations. The report was prepared after consultation with the accessibility advisory committee, and it makes clear that staff will assist people with special needs, people in the hospital, seniors and anyone else who needs help with internet voting. He says whatever tools are used, whether it’s tablets or laptops, voting will be made accessible to everyone.

Not everyone likes the idea of internet voting, though. Councillor Maddie Di Muccio says, while she’s not against the idea of online voting in the future, the town is simply not ready to implement it, especially in an election year. She says she’s had “overwhelming” constituent feedback from people concerned about vote stealing and intimidation. At a traditional poll, with paper ballots, she says, there’s more privacy. But the internet is an unsupervised setting, in which she believes people could be coerced or influenced to vote in a certain way.

Di Muccio is also concerned about the advanced polling that would be made possible by online voting.

“Candidates would have plenty of time to cheat the system. I could knock on a citizen’s door and say ‘If you have your pin number, why don’t I help you?’.”

Not only that, she says, a candidate could knock on someone’s door 30 days before election day only to find the resident had already voted, which would waste everyone’s time. She said she’s also concerned about the potential for disenfranchising people, such as some seniors who might be uncomfortable using computers and too embarrassed to ask for help.

“Let’s face it, seniors are the largest segment of voters, and many of them have no clue how to use a computer.”

“Don’t get me wrong - it’s a good idea for the future. I just think, technically, we’re not ready for it.”

Brouwer acknowledges concerns like the ones Di Muccio brings to the discussion. He says he feels the risk is low in terms of coercion, but it will mean a substantive change for the community, and needs to be carefully thought out by council. Even if the system changes to internet voting, those who wish to cast ballots on election day can still do so. But it won’t be done in the traditional way. Rather, it will be done via touch screen.