Mayor Supports Online Voting Resolution
Prince George, B.C. – Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall joined a bare majority of delegates at this week’s Union of BC Municipalities convention in urging the province to bring in online voting in time for the 2018 local elections.
The resolution was brought forward by Osoyoos and he hopes it will encourage younger people to come out and cast ballots.
“We’re trying to increase voter turnout and I think that we need to start to look way outside of how we normally conduct elections,” says Hall.
“You know we’re in a social media world today and I think that this is one piece that we can use to entice younger voters in particular to participate in that process.”
He was encouraged voter turnout increased to about 34% last year (compared to 28.5% in 2011), but says it’s nowhere near where he’d like it to be.
“Oh absolutely, you talk about the increase last year, it was a good increase but certainly not where I thought it would be,” says Hall. “Obviously you’d like to see 60-70% turnout as we’re seeing in some countries but I guess we look at it and try to deal with maybe 5-10% at a time.”
However as with other delegates, he says he still has concerns regarding the security of online voting, which he notes was reflected in the close vote (just 51% in favour of the resolution).
“My proviso is what does this look like from a security perspective,” says Hall. “They key piece to a lot of people on the conference floor was the security of the vote process and that’s the important factor for me. There can’t be any way that you could somehow hack into this system and create issues skewing the outcome.”
Comments
Seems to me asking someone to get of their butts once every four years and vote at a voting station is no big deal. If they cant do that, then they probably have no interest in voting/
Making it easier to vote online, will not necessarily improve their understanding of the issues, however it will allow them to vote within a few (lazy) seconds, and thus give the impression that they are involved in the process.
Lets quit jigging the system, to make it easier for people. Easier is not always better.
I disagree Palopu, I think this makes complete sense IF it can be implemented in a secure manner.
I see no righteous argument for forcing people to attend a polling station to cast their ballot. I think it basically comes down to people not wanting to break with tradition, for no reason other than they don’t want to break with tradition.
We bank online, we file tax returns online, we pay bills online, we conduct business online, we get our news online, etc. Making people vote in person does absolutely nothing to ensure they will understand the issues, nor does it make the system any less “jigged”.
I say get on with it already. It’s 2015.
The logistics on a varifiable ballot over the internet are more complicated than just going down to vote.
I think the risk of fraud is far to great and democracy should be something we protect and ensure is genuine and not tampered with.
Online voting would be great though for none binding resolutions of guidelines for public and elected officials to be accountable to. Then they can justify their positions that went against the public at the ballot box. I think governments at all levels should be enabling this type of check and balance on their power. Thats what people want is a say in our democracy and a strong moral check on our elected officials.
I disagree with you NMG. Some people do the things you say on line, and others don’t. Most of those things are optional, however they were all implemented to save money for the Government or for the companies that implemented them, and are for all intents and purposes commercial ventures.
Voting is not commercial. Why open up another can of worms by voting on line. There is no reason for it, except to try and get to those people who are to lazy to get off their butts and vote.
Being in 2015 has nothing to do with anything. At best you will end up with a duel system.
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