The MD of Bonnyville has announced that they’ll be switching over to an electronic voting system in October’s Municipal Election to “improve efficiency of voting, as well as fewer spoiled ballots.”
The MD’s election is set for October 16th and the nomination deadline is September 18th.
Esther Quiambao gave a presentation to council on Wednesday, stressing the goal with the machines is to make voting a quick, simple and easy to access process. She also highlighted some rather low voter turnout at the previous 2013 election. Wards 3, 4 and 5 were run unopposed, and only 22% of the electorate casted a vote for Reeve.
An electronic election comes off the heels of the 2014 census, which was done electronically as well. Reeve Ed Rondeau threw his support behind the idea.
“I discussed it briefly with [Chief Administrative Officer] Chris Cambridge and if we don’t do it this time, we’ll do it next time. It’s at the point where we’re going to do it sooner or later, so why not sooner?”
With council’s approval of Wednesday, the October election will use DS200 voting machines at a cost of about 20,000 dollars. The MD already has 30,000 budgeted for the election so no extra funds will be required. Watch the video below for an explanation on how to use them.