A report on the October 2018 election night fiasco was deferred Tuesday, and will come back to city council in April when it will include options on how residents will vote next time around.
Mayor Brian Bigger asked for the deferral, because he wants a decision soon on the voting method in 2020.
“I do believe it's important for us to establish that as soon as possible, so everyone is fully aware of the process for the next election,” Bigger said.
City council approved an online-only method for the 2018 vote (https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/ontario-voting-troubles-bigger-broke-the-tie-that-decided-online-only-voting-in-2018-1095147) the summer before the election was held. Some councillors felt that left them with little time to explore options.
By a 7-6 vote, council approved the online-only option when a staff report concluded there were no suitable bids for a combination paper ballot/online ballot.
That decision came back to haunt them when an internet provider used by Dominion Voting (https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/ontario-voting-troubles-dominion-blames-toronto-internet-provider-for-problems-1095136) mistakenly slowed traffic to a crawl on voting day. That caused delays in the 51 Ontario communities that also went online-only using Dominion.
When the problems emerged election night, Bigger said he was “disgusted” and demanded an explanation from city staff “who put this process in place and why there was no backup plan in place.
“There will be consequences for those who made poor choices that impeded the process in our city,” Bigger said at the time.
Sudbury was one of the cities that extended voting an extra day, and is receiving a $35,000 refund to cover costs for the extra day.
City clerk Eric Labelle said a report on voting options for 2022 would take some time to complete, and since the election is still years away, suggested giving staff until summer or fall to prepare it.
But Bigger said after what happened last time, he wanted to ensure there was time to ensure both options.
“We know there is strong interest in election voting, but there's also a very strong interest in paper ballot voting,” he said.
Labelle said if that's the direction from council, “we will make it happen.”
