Marking your vote on a paper ballot is to become a thing of the past in St. Thomas.
Monday evening, city council approved a move to internet and telephone voting only for the 2022 municipal election.
To accommodate those who prefer to vote in person, a system of mobile voting kiosks with computer tablets will be established.
In the 2018 municipal vote, there was electronic voting at advance polls and electors cast paper ballots at one of four voting locations on voting day itself.
There was no in-person voting using paper ballots during the advance voting period and no electronic voting on voting day.
Coun. Jim Herbert was adamant he would not support the move.
In 2018, 10,218 electors voted as follows: 55.7% by paper ballot, 41.2% by internet ballot and 3.1% by telephone ballot.
Voter turnout was 35.9%.
In her report to council, city clerk Maria Konefal advised, “the average voting session length for internet ballots was 2.7 minutes, while the average length for telephone ballots was 5.5 minutes.”
Mayor Joe Preston advised councillors the only complaints he received following the last municipal election dealt with the lineups at polling stations.
Now, he adds, you can sit back and relax and vote from the comfort of your home or from wherever you are.
It’s a move Coun. Lori Baldwin-Sands believes will increase voter turnout.
The city will rely on Simply Voting Inc., based out of Montreal, a full-service provider of secure, hosted online elections. It’s the same firm the city employed in 2018.
According to its website, over over 4,000 organizations from 67 countries rely on Simply Voting for their election needs.
Customers include The Municipality of Huron East and The Municipality of Central Huron, the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and the Green Party of Canada.
During a lengthy discussion, no member of council asked about the possibility of online data breaches, data storage, a backup plan in the event of technical issues election day or any other security matters.
In the end, the vote was unanimous and a bylaw dealing with the new electronic voting procedure will come before council early in the new year.
