Sudbury residents will be able to vote online again in the 2018 municipal election, but ranked ballots will have to wait a few more years.
But one councillor opposed the decision to allow people to vote using the Internet, arguing it's too open to abuse.
Ward 5 Coun. Bob Kirwan said that voter turnout only increased marginally in 2014 compared to 2010. He also expressed concern that unlike voting in person, there's no way to know who is casting a ballot online.
“All you need is the PIN number and the birth date,” Kirwan said. “You can vote for your wife, for your children … We don't protect the integrity of the one person, one vote principal.”
But city clerk Caroline Hallsworth said no system of voting is perfect, and the old system was open to the same sort of abuse through mail-in and telephone voting.
“There are many, many ways people can influence the vote in an election,” Hallsworth said. “Every voting methodology comes with risks.”
Online voting has a number of checks and balances, she said, and suspicious activity is flagged for investigation. For example, one person who voted in advance in 2014 passed away before the actual voting day. His vote was flagged and investigated before it was counted.
“The protection and secrecy of the vote is absolute,” she said.
And surveys taken after the 2014 election found that 12 per cent of residents wouldn't have voted if Internet voting wasn't an option.
Councillors rejected using ranked ballots for 2018, a process in which voters rank candidates according to preference. If no one gets 50 per cent of the vote, the person with the fewest votes drops off the ballot, and their votes are redistributed according to voters' second choice.
Hallsworth said counting ranked ballots is far more complex and has never been attempted in Canada before. At a recent meeting with city clerks from across Ontario, she said no municipalities said they were ready to give it a try.
“It's very new in Ontario,” she said. “It's very much a technology that it's in infancy.”
The discussion prompted Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier to quip, “No one has every said to me, 'Gerry, let's make voting more complicated.'
“My question is, who comes up with stuff?”
Hallsworth outlined other changes in store for 2018. The election period has shortened by four months, meaning candidates can't register until May 1, rather than Jan. 1. They'll also need 25 signatures from eligible voters, and will only have their nomination fees returned if they file their financial statements on time.
Campaign contributions can only come from Ontario residents, and businesses and unions can no longer make donations.
“This is a fundamental change in how campaigns are financed,” Hallsworth said.
Advance voting will extend until election day, and voters at polling stations will use touch screens to vote, rather than paper ballots.
“And yes, we're looking at bringing the election bus back,” she said.
Third parties will have to register if they want to advertise for or against a candidate, prompting a question from Kirwan about social media and whether or not it counts as advertising.
“There are a large number of individuals who will create websites and advertise against voting for certain individuals,” he said. “Have you discussed that in your meetings with other clerks?”
Hallsworth said the focus so far has been on the methodologies, but they will get a clear explanation of what constitutes advertising.
“We have a lot to learn about how we apply this legislation.”
