Electronic voting can't be trusted in this fall's municipal election, says CBRM councillor
CBC
Paper ballots are making a comeback in this fall's Cape Breton Regional Municipality elections to provide an option for those who don't want to vote electronically.
But one councillor says voting by computer or phone should not be allowed at all because it can't be trusted.
"I know I had individuals that knowingly voted in my district that weren't residing in the district," Coun. Lorne Green said. "In fact, [they] weren't even residing in Cape Breton."
Green represents District 12, which includes parts of Sydney and all of Whitney Pier, Lingan Road and the communities of South Bar and Victoria Mines.
Last week, council voted 8-2 to go with a hybrid option that includes electronic voting — by phone or computer — and traditional printed ballots.
With the electronic system, voters are mailed a personal ID number and use their date of birth to confirm their identity when casting a ballot.
Green said at least three people in his district voted in 2020 when they were no longer qualified to do so. He said they must have received ID numbers because they own property in CBRM and were on an old voter list.
But the system is also open to abuse by people who get ahold of someone else's ID number and know or can find out their birth date, he said.
"It allows the opportunity for this type of thing to happen with electronic voting because you don't have to go into a polling station," Green said.
Green said he complained to the returning officer in 2020, but nothing came of it. He then went to Cape Breton Regional Police.
He said police told him one of the people he was alleging had voted improperly was somehow connected to the police union, so they recommended going to an off-island force.
Green said Truro police investigated, but recommended the matter be dealt with by the returning officer, so nothing came of it.
Christa Dicks, who only recently replaced retired CBRM clerk Deborah Campbell Ryan and took over as returning officer, told council last week there are controls in place, but said she was not familiar with problems in the last election.
In an email, she said complaints about voter fraud typically go to police.
In the four years Chelsey Simmonds has worked at the Eva Rothwell Centre, she has seen the need increase every year at the centre’s community food pantry.
CBC is once again looking to make the holiday season kind in Windsor-Essex.
Acute Care Alberta has extended its contract for another year with a private surgical facility at the centre of probes into health procurement and contracting.
As food bank use continues to climb across the province, front-line workers in Thunder Bay, Ont., are working to improve both food security and education.
More ads could soon be coming to Toronto’s subway system.
The driver wanted in connection with a fatal hit and run on Highway 401 earlier this week has been identified, police say.
There are mixed feelings about the proposed Grays Bay road and port project, among people who live in nearby communities.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse and includes graphic content.
Provincial police in Lambton County have charged a 23-year-old man with second degree murder following a death investigation that began this past Saturday.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government is forming a working group to tackle what it calls systemic issues in the justice system, but answers or solutions could still be months away.
A woman has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in a 2024 fatal hit and run in Truro, N.S., where the victim was dragged down the street, a case that went unsolved for more than six months.
A stream of people showing up to a brightly lit front porch, each holding up a bottle of wine, spirits, or beer.
Sona Lakhoyan Olivier has been excluded from Quebec’s Liberal caucus for the duration of an investigation led by the National Assembly’s ethics commissioner, the party announced Thursday.