While voters in big cities like Ontario and Ottawa will be making use of traditional paper ballots, this October’s municipal election will see dozens of smaller communities across the province adopting phone and online voting.
The region of Clarington will in fact only be offering phone and online voting. But as they head into their first ever “virtual election”, Clarington is already experiencing problems.
Clarington residents were directed to a closed public library on Tuesday morning, the first day of voting, despite it being advertised by local officials as an “Election Assistance Centre” to help people navigate voting online or by phone.
In 2019, the municipality passed a by-law introducing internet and telephone voting and this is the first year the new system is being used.
“Voting for the Clarington 2022 Municipal Elections will take place electronically by internet and telephone,” Clarington Votes explains.
To help residents navigate online voting, the Clarington Votes website advertised that as of Tuesday “election assistance will also be provided at Clarington Public Library branches” during regular hours from Oct. 18 to Oct. 24 for residents who need help accessing a computer or updating their voter information.
However, voters who showed up on Tuesday were met with a sign about a “service interruption” and irregular hours.
“All Library branches will be closed Tuesday, October 18th from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for staff development,” the sign reads.
“The Bowmanville, Courtice, and Newcastle Branches will re-open to the public from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.”
Clarington’s municipal clerk explained to residents who reached out to her that they only learned libraries were scheduled to be closed on the day the disruption occurred. Currently, the website still directs voters to the closed library. The website also directs voters to other Election Assistance Centres that are open.
“I can confirm that there was a service disruption today. All Clarington Public Libraries were closed between 9:30 am and 5:00 pm. The Clerk’s Division was unaware that this had occurred until mid-day. When we were made aware of the situation, we posted Service Disruption notices on all four library facilities, directing voters to the Election Assistance Centres and the Municipal Administration Centre located at 40 Temperance Street, Bowmanville,” municipal clerk June Gallagher told True North in an emailed statement.
“We also released a communication, via social media. As you can see from the link to the Election Assistance Centres, there are many more opportunities to receive voting assistance before the end of Voting.”
Ralph Boehler, a 93-year-old resident, was among those who attended the library on Tuesday for assistance with his PIN number for online and phone voting.
“My daughter called last night and asked me for my PIN number,” explained Boehler in an interview.
After arriving at the library and making the trek up the sidewalk, Boehler found the doors locked shut.
“It’s closed. The whole library is closed,” said Boehler.
Clarington resident and election scrutineer Rita Smith also attended the library while Boehler was there.
“He has a really bad limp. He couldn’t stand long enough to talk to me, he had to sit in his car. He said he didn’t get a PIN and he went over to the library to find out how to vote without a PIN,” explained Smith.
“They have taken what should be a proven successful process – marking an X on a ballot, putting it into the box. They had this down to an art that they’ve been doing for 150 years and now we have made it so complicated that poor Ralph, he’s never going to get to vote.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect comment received from the Municipality of Clarington following publication.
