Councillors not convinced electronic voting wouldn’t increase voter turnout
A report that suggests Internet voting doesn’t result in higher voter turnout is deeply flawed and should be ignored, says Coun. C. J. Rhodes.
“The government issues hundreds of reports that just sit on the shelf,” said Rhodes, who got support from fellow members of town council to send a resolution to the Southern Interior Local Government Association (SILGA) asking them to endorse Internet voting for the next municipal election in 2018.
Rhodes said the report, called Independent Panel on Internet Voting Recommendations Report to the Legislative Assembly of B.C., doesn’t address how successful Internet voting has been in other jurisdictions in Canada and around the world.
Rhodes said he would “strongly argue” that Internet voting would increase the low percentages that have marred recent municipal and provincial elections in this province.
“I don’t like this report and I don’t think they went about it the right way,” he said.
Voter turnout during the most recent municipal election was far below 40 per cent in Osoyoos and this “is embarrassing” and steps should be taken to do everything possible to increase those numbers, said Rhodes.
“Internet voting is one more tool we can provide to allow and encourage people to vote,” he said.
Coun. Mike Campol agreed with Rhodes and said Internet voting would most certainly encourage more people, especially young adults, to get involved in the democratic process and cast their ballots during elections at various levels of government.
The panel, comprised of the Chief Electoral Officer and four additional members, met 13 times between September 2012 and October of 2013. A report outlining the panel’s preliminary conclusions and recommendations was made available for public comment in October and December of 2013.
The panel heard from 100 individuals and from Internet security experts, vendors of Internet voting technology and groups representing persons with disabilities.
At the conclusion of the public input period, the panel met an additional two times to consider input and produce a final report.
“The panel concludes that Internet voting has the potential to provide some benefits for administering local government elections and provincial elections in B.C and that the most significant potential benefits of Internet voting is increased accessibility and convenience for B.C. voters. Other presumed benefits, such as increased turnout and lower cost are not typically realized,”
The panel also concluded that Internet voting has some significant inherent risks.
“The extent to which each of these risks can be mitigated or eliminated also depends on the details of the way in which an Internet-voting model is implemented.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
