{"id":17128,"date":"2017-04-26T17:31:42","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T21:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17128"},"modified":"2017-04-26T17:31:42","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T21:31:42","slug":"internet-voting-met-with-skepticism-at-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/internet-voting-met-with-skepticism-at-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet voting met with skepticism at Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n

Those hoping for Aurora to adopt internet voting in time for next year\u2019s municipal election will likely be left disappointed this week as Council prepares to vote down a shift away from the traditional paper ballot.
\nCouncil, sitting at the Committee level last week, nixed a recommendation from Town Staff to implement a new method of online voting which would allow residents to log into a secure website from anywhere connected to the internet to cast their choices for Mayor and Council.
\n\u201cWe are talking about fundamentally changing our voting system,\u201d said Councillor Jeff Thom, one of the primary voices in opposition to the recommendation at last week\u2019s meeting. \u201cThere really isn\u2019t any issue at all with our current system. The Federal Government still uses paper ballots, the Provincial government still uses paper ballots, and they try to make it as accessible as possible. Change for the sake of change is a mistake.\u201d
\nAmong his chief concerns was security, citing test runs of internet voting systems in the states over six years ago which showed how a system could be hacked.
\nThese concerns, however, were not shared by Michael de Rond, Aurora\u2019s newly-minted Clerk, who presented the case for change with Deputy Clerk Samantha Yew.
\n\u201cThe main challenge is security and when staff think of security we think of it in two ways: the first instance of security is the voting system and basically can it be hacked. I can\u2019t stand here and say definitively that it cannot be, but I can say there are no instances of an electronic voting system being tampered with by malicious third parties in Ontario municipal elections,\u201d said Mr. de Rond.
\nIn an electronic voting system, such as the one proposed, security audits are taken every day to make sure the system is in good working order and there are no outside influences.
\nThe second way they consider security is security for the voter, such as a hypothetical where someone steals mail containing the PIN numbers of individual voters and using them to rig the vote.
\n\u201cIt is important to remember that if someone were to theoretically steal the mail and vote with all the pins they would be breaking five federal laws in the Criminal Code of Canada,\u201d the Clerk noted.
\nInternet voting has seen a surge in recent years. Just 47 of Ontario\u2019s 444 municipalities used internet voting in some form by the time of the 2010 municipal elections. By the next election in 2014, this number had more than doubled to 97 municipalities. Ms. Yew said the numbers were on track to see this hit 200 by 2018, with Newmarket recently adopting an internet voting system.
\nThese trends, however, were not enough to convince the majority of Council.
\n\u201cI was all for electronic voting because everything seems to be electronic,\u201d said Councillor Harold Kim. \u201cI don\u2019t like flying but we all know flying is one of the safest methods of transportation but I still get uneasy every time I get on a plane because when something happens it is usually pretty bad!
\n\u201cI thought online voting would really be a substantive savings but the figures don\u2019t seem to indicate that. There do not seem to be any overall benefits, there do not seem to be any other than convenience for those who plan to vote anyway. Whether you vote online or actually make a physical effort to vote, those who really want to vote and want to be engaged in the voting process will do whatever it takes to actually vote. I know this is the way of the future but I just need time to get that massaged into my head and get used to it. It doesn\u2019t mean that one week can\u2019t change my mind on this.\u201d
\nCouncillor Wendy Gaertner offered a similar view, adding she was not yet convinced of the benefits.
\n\u201cIt is always nice to be ahead of the curve but the way I am feeling at the moment I would rather be on the curve or behind the curve for something like this,\u201d she said. \u201cThe way I am thinking about this now is there is just too much room for error.\u201d
\nCouncillors John Abel and Michael Thompson also voiced their concerns, primarily related to security and the implementation of the system.
\nBut, for supporters of the shift towards internet voting, the time was simply right.
\n\u201cI am all in favour of this,\u201d said Councillor Tom Mrakas, adding he believed it would engage younger people in Aurora as well. \u201cI think it is the way to go. We tout ourselves as being progressive and being accessible, and looking at all these aspects, I just think moving forward it just needs to be done. I am comfortable in hearing what different municipalities and what\u2019s out there have done. I think there are flaws in the system right now. Does that mean we\u2019re going to stop doing it this way and we have to look at ways of changing it? We are constantly looking at what is the best way to have our elections.
\n\u201cI just think this is the way to move forward and it\u2019s time. I just happened to be at a nomination and watched busloads of people come in and being told what to vote and who to vote for. How do you fix that? There is a risk in everything we do. Just because there is a risk doesn\u2019t mean we shouldn\u2019t do it.\u201d
\nMayor Geoff Dawe was also a firm supporter of internet voting.
\n\u201cI am not sure it is appropriate to bring up concerns from 2010 in terms of electronic security because it has grown by leaps and bounds every six months,\u201d he said. \u201cThe security today is much more robust than it was even two years ago, so I don\u2019t think that is even a concern, quite frankly. I don\u2019t think we are, frankly, very different from Markham and Newmarket [who have approved similar systems]. I am in favour because I think it is time to do it.\u201d
\nCouncil will make its final decision on what voting method will be used in 2018 this week.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those hoping for Aurora to adopt internet voting in time for next year\u2019s municipal election will likely be left disappointed this week as Council prepares to vote down a shift away from the traditional paper ballot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4sg","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-25 22:57:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}