{"id":17185,"date":"2017-05-03T15:39:39","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T19:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17185"},"modified":"2017-05-03T15:39:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T19:39:39","slug":"internet-voting-decision-put-on-the-backburner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/internet-voting-decision-put-on-the-backburner\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet voting decision put on the backburner"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir
\n<\/strong>
\nLocal lawmakers have given themselves a few more weeks to decide how Aurorans will cast their vote in next year\u2019s municipal election.
\nCouncil last week approved a motion confirming Aurora will be using an \u201calternative voting method\u201d in the upcoming election \u2013 but the door is still open on just what the alternative method will ultimately be.
\nAurora currently uses a paper ballot counted with a tabulation machine \u2013 recognized by the Province as an \u201calternative\u201d method to a traditional hand-counted paper ballot seen in a Federal election. Last Tuesday\u2019s decision gives municipal staff until May 16 to find answers to questions posed by Council and gives Council itself a deadline of May 23 to come up with a final decision.
\nThe majority of questions surround the pros and cons of implementing an internet-only voting system, which was recommended to Council by Aurora\u2019s Governance Committee. It is an issue that has divided Council and sparked heated debate.
\nThe internet voting model had been voted down at the previous week\u2019s General Committee meeting but, as Council members did not suggest an alternative, the majority of the arguments were rehashed at the Council level.
\nCouncillor Jeff Thom was once again among those arguing most passionately against a move away from a traditional ballot. Citing recommendations against internet voting made in jurisdictions as varied as British Columbia, Edmonton and Toronto, he said the risks of implementing internet voting outweigh the benefits.
\n\u201cThere are many other reports and articles that cast similar doubts on the desirability of internet voting at this time,\u201d said Councillor Thom. \u201cFor me, the main concern is the security and integrity of the election result. This is important stuff we\u2019re talking about here. If we\u2019re going to be making a significant change, we should have the information and it should be done right. At this time, I have not seen that evidence and staff have not comforted me with their answers on what we\u2019re going to get back [with a delay.]\u201d
\nCouncillor Paul Pirri offered similar concerns. As internet voting does not necessarily mean a reduction of costs to the system or increased voter turnout, he said he had not yet seen \u201cwhat problem it is solving.\u201d
\n\u201cI haven\u2019t identified whether that trade-off is an increased risk. With that said, I am happy to look for more information here. That is not an issue. But, for me, when we get a further report, if you could please explain to me what problem needs fixing? To be honest, even if it is a minute increase in risk, I am not sure if the convenience of being able to go out once every four years and being able to vote from your pyjamas at home. Progress for progress\u2019s sake alone? I am not sure this is progress. I am not sure what the problem is we\u2019re solving.\u201d
\nFor those in support of moving ahead with internet voting, one particular problem it would solve is accessibility challenges faced by many demographics \u2013 disabled to seniors \u2013 in getting out in casting their ballot.
\n\u201cFor me, the most important thing is to make voting easier and, from my perspective, it\u2019s the individuals who can\u2019t get to the voting polls for accessibility issues, people who can\u2019t leave their homes,\u201d said Councillor Sandra Humfryes. \u201cFor me, if there is an easier way for individuals to participate in the right to vote, I would like to have more information on that.\u201d
\nSimilar sentiments were shared by Councillor Tom Mrakas, who said improving residents\u2019 quality of life is part of Aurora\u2019s Strategic Plan and this fits the bill.
\n\u201cThe benefit is for those voters with disabilities; to be able to overcome those barriers and exercise their constitutional right to vote and dignity,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is the benefit. We strive under our strategic plan to look to improve and provide \u2018an exceptional quality of life\u2019 to our residents. Well, I think that is a benefit and that is improving the quality of life for the residents of our Town. That is why I think this is important for us to move forward. It is not just because we\u2019re progressing and moving forward, it is about doing it to improve the quality of life for our residents and that is what we\u2019re supposed to be doing here.
\n\u201cAt the end of the day there are risks any which way we vote. If we sit here and wait until we get to 100 per cent we\u2019re going to be waiting longer to institute online voting compared to how long it has taken to do Library Square. It is the right thing to do for the quality of life for our residents.\u201d
\nIn the end, Council was content for a cooling off period to get more information, yet just what that information might be is the big question. Possible clarity came near the end of the Council meeting when Councillor Mrakas suggested an invitation be extended to someone from the City of Markham, which has an internet-based system, to come and speak about why the city moved in that direction.
\nWhen Councillor Thom suggested such a delegation be balanced by a representative from a municipality opposing internet voting, Councillor Mrakas pulled his motion.
\n\u201cWe established a Governance Review Committee and asked them to look at a variety of issues and advise us, provide some feedback,\u201d offered Councillor Michael Thompson. \u201cI am pretty confident that within the confines of those committee meetings they were raising the same questions that we are tonight with regards to security and regards to costs and benefits, yet somehow they came to that recommendation.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local lawmakers have given themselves a few more weeks to decide how Aurorans will cast their vote in next year\u2019s municipal election.
\nCouncil last week approved a motion confirming Aurora will be using an \u201calternative voting method\u201d in the upcoming election \u2013 but the door is still open on just what the alternative method will ultimately be. <\/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-17185","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\/p3D2k4-4tb","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 16:42:52","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\/17185","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=17185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}