[fvc-wat-disc] Waterloo mulls internet voting - Waterloo Chronicle

[Eleanor Grant]

What do Fair Voters think about this?

Eleanor

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City looking at e-voting in time for 2014 municipal elections
Published on January 16th, 2013

By James Jackson, Chronicle staff

http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/city-looking-at-e-voting-in-time-for-2014-municipal-elections/

The City of Waterloo is going to investigate the possibility of using
Internet and telephone voting in time for the 2014 municipal election.

Council approved a request for proposals on Monday night, a joint request
with the cities of Cambridge and Kitchener.

Tim Jackson of the Barnraiser council urged councillors to embrace the
technology, citing Markham (the first city to introduce electronic voting
in 2003) and more than 40 other municipalities that have used the
technology since.

“As the most intelligent community in the world it’s almost a given that we
should be embracing the concept of electronic voting,” Jackson said.

Not every councillor was convinced, however. Coun. Angela Vieth raised
concerns about voter fraud and hacking, as did Coun. Jeff Henry.

“I don’t want to suggest there has been no issues, and if we were the first
I could understand that (concern),” Jackson said, whose council was given a
seat on the review committee by city councillors Monday as well.

“If anyone has the internal capabilities (to prevent fraud), I’ve got to
believe we can.”

Jackson compared the concerns of Internet voting to the early worries of
entering credit card information online — now a common practice.

Henry, who grew up in Markham and participated in electronic voting at the
University of Waterloo, voted against the proposal.

“My skepticism comes with that knowledge,” he said. “(The University of
Waterloo) hasn’t necessarily gotten it figured out.”

Coun. Scott Witmer also voted against the idea, countering Jackson’s
statement about credit cards by saying with credit card fraud you know a
crime has been committed as soon as you look at your balance.

Voter fraud, however, would be much more difficult to prove.

Electronic voting wouldn’t be any cheaper, city clerk Susan Greatrix
indicated. Instead, it will likely add to the costs of the electoral
process. “It would be much more expensive than traditional voting,” she
said, noting Cambridge was leaning towards to idea of Internet voting,
while Kitchener was leaning away from it.

The City of Kitchener rejected the idea in December, saying it would double
election costs, while Cambridge voted in favour of it in October.

Coun. Scian liked the idea of bringing the ballot box to the voter, saying
it was a “logical path forward into the future.”

She said many of the most active Internet users are right here in Waterloo,
and cited the results of last year’s municipal vote in Halifax, which saw
more than half of all votes submitted online or through the phone.

No decisions were made about voting methods in 2014, but one is expected
later this year.

Categories: News
Tags: election, electronic voting
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