On October 22nd, Ontarians took to the polls to vote in their local municipal elections. In 51 of the 191 districts that utilize some form of online voting, issues came up.
There are 444 municipalities in Ontario, and a growing number of them use online voting. The 51 communities that had issues were using a system from Denver, Colorado-based company Dominion Voting Systems.
To counteract the problems, some regions extended voting a few hours, while others pushed the deadline back a full 24-hours, according to the CBC.
In a statement, Dominion blamed an unspecified Toronto company for limiting incoming traffic. In the same statement, the company said it was able to solve the problem after about 90 minutes.
According to the CBC, 99 communities in Ontario used Halifax-based Intelivote Systems, which worked without any significant holdups.
Over the past few elections, the popularity of online voting has grown exponentially in Ontario. In 2014, 97 regions used some form of online voting, whereas just four years prior, in 2010, only 44 communities could vote online.
As the technology gains more mainstream traction, it will likely start appearing in more and more areas around the province. Although there are still some notable objectors like Toronto, which is holding out over security concerns, reports the CBC.
Nova Scotia is the only other province to offer online voting, with most of Canada still voting with traditional methods. Some other provinces have legislation that allows their municipalities to vote online, but they’re not currently taking advantage, according to the director of the Centre for e-Democracy at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Nicole Goodman in an interview with The CBC.
Source: CBC
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