Dear Editor,
While knocking on doors campaigning for Owen Sound's City Council, I've been hearing some real concern about the new voting system.
City council chose the on-line and telephone system for this election two years ago, but residents seem quite surprised to learn that there will be no choice of a paper ballot vote.
There are a lot of folks who may have a hard time voting, and don't realize it yet. Those who are most isolated, luding those who do not use the internet or social media, or have literacy issues, are worried they will have difficulty with the process, or with finding information about where to get help. They are concerned that if they do need help, the confidentiality of their vote may be lost.
At the door and on social media, many people are reporting that they cannot verify that they are on the preliminary voters' list on the VoterLookUp.ca site. They worry they will not receive their voter identification in time.
Others find the system tells them there are more voters in their house than live there.
Currently I am a tenant in a building with high turnover and an insecure mailbox; I can see considerable room for errors and fraud.
Council was told before they chose this system that it was not likely to increase the rate of voter participation in our municipal election. The system itself, owned by Dominion Voting which was recently aquired in part by a private American equity company, appears to be neither transparent nor accountable.
Aleksander Essex, a professor of computer science at Western, studies on-line security and privacy. He suggests people voting on-line ask themselves "Will my vote count and how do I know if it counted?"and ask municipalities about their contingency plans.
At this point, as a candidate with the legal right to have a scrutineer oversee the vote on my behalf, I am not able to answer those questions for the voters of Owen Sound.
Riel Warrilow
