Council concerned voting changes in 2014 will alienate seniors

Voting in the October 2014 municipal election will be easier than ever, but some city councillors are worried that efforts to reach younger voters will mean some older voters will stay home.

At Tuesday's city council meeting, City Clerk Caroline Hallsworth outlined changes to voting next year, including online advanced polls for 11 days before the Oct. 27 election. There's also a mobile voting station – a converted city transit bus -- that also acts as an election information resource.

Also new next year is the elimination of individual polling sites, in favour of fewer, but more central polling stations. Unlike past elections, residents can vote at any station in the city.

“For example, a hockey mom from the South End who has a game in the Valley can stop and vote on her way to the rink -- downtown, at the Val Caron poll, whatever is more convenient.”

They looked at more than 200 potential locations for polling stations, Hallsworth said. Each site was evaluated for location, accessibility, whether it's already a neighbourhood/community gathering centre, and whether it offers easy access by foot, car or city transit. The city's website also has a list of all the stations, and offers directions through Google Maps.

“On election day, we're trying to use, primarily, municipal facilities,” she said. “We're trying to move away from religious-based voting locations” to be as inclusive as possible.

Ward 2 Coun. Jacques Barbeau asked what sort of impact bringing in the new technology and voting system had on the election budget.

“This didn't happen for free,” Barbeau said.

While the amount is the same, Hallsworth said they have “totally restructured the election budget.” They have reduced the number of polling stations to save money, but have worked to ensure the stations are in areas easily accessible to all.

But Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann said many voters are older and accustomed to voting in specific polling stations. In fact, many apartment buildings in her ward are full of older voters, although they're not formally designated as a seniors facility.

“The like to vote on voting day -- to them, an advance poll means nothing,” Landry-Altmann said. “They just want to put on their hat and coat and go vote ... They're used to having polls int their area. How are we going to accommodate (those) apartment buildings?”

And Ward 10 Coun. Frances Caldarelli said even healthy seniors are more likely to stay home if the city makes it harder for them to find their polling stations.

“And you don't want that to happen,” Caldarelli said.

Barbeau said the concern is the gains made in voter turnout by going online will be negated by making it too hard for older voters. Ward 2, 3 and 7 are huge geographic areas, he said, so it's of a particular concern.

“If we start cutting back on polling stations ... we're now going to be deterring people from going out and voting,” he said.

Hallsworth said they spent a considerable amount setting up the new system, and they can't afford to do both Internet voting and keeping the same number of polling stations open as last time – especially when some saw very little action.

“The reality is we're trying to deliver this election on the same budget as the last election,” Hallsworth said. “Instead of having two or three very small locations, we might have one in the west end of Lively that serves two or three former locations.

“It will hopefully be a better use of resources because to pay two staff, and then spend a couple thousand dollars for the tabulator that's counting 30 votes ... it's a difficult balance.”

Ward 11 Coun. Terry Kett said it might be worth spending the money to ensure the vote goes smoothly.

“Honestly, I don't think you should be that worried about the budget, because this is a big, big thing for democracy,” Kett said. “It's much more important than going over a few dollars in your budget.”

He suggested a communications blitz be prepared in the weeks before the vote so residents are well informed about all the changes, something Hallsworth said they will work on.