
October 12, 2018 · 0 Comments
FOR THE FIRST TIME, all but one of Dufferin’s lower-tier municipalities will be offering residents at least the option of electronic voting.
Only Orangeville is sticking to the traditional ballot as the sole means of casting a vote, and Amaranth is encouraging residents to vote electronically but giving them the option of a paper ballot.
In all the towns and townships with electronic voting, residents have been given Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and everyone with access to any device capable of accessing the Internet will be able to exercise the franchise online. Alternatively, they can vote by phone using the same PINs.
The main objective in electronic voting is improved participation, since in 2014 the municipalities relying on ballots and polling stations saw only about one in four eligible voters bothering to vote.
In the circumstances, it will be interesting to see whether the “turnout” is significantly higher elsewhere than in Orangeville, where most of the advance polls will be in the town hall and seven polling stations will be used Oct. 22.