A “pre-vote” feature on mayoral candidate Steve Brent’s website is causing some confusion with the official municipal Internet voting process, according to Chatham-Kent clerk and returning officer Judy Smith.
“We have received a number of calls from people who want to know if this will affect their municipal vote or if it’s part of the official vote,” she said. “We’re following up on the matter, but we want to assure the public that this has nothing to do whatsoever with the municipal election.”
Smith said Brent’s site has none of the safeguards built in to ensure the basic principals are met, such as making sure only eligible voters cast ballots and only one vote per per person is allowed.
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Brent said he received a call from Smith and regrets any confusion. “The poll came about because during my campaigning I was encountering a lot of people who didn’t even know who the candidates were. It’s about voter engagement and education. We have disclaimers on the site and our website pushes people to the municipal website.”
Brent said he intends to have the poll taken down prior to Oct. 13 when online voting begins, but wouldn’t provide a specific date. Smith said she is seeking further information on the issues.
Official online voting begins Oct. 13 at 9 a.m. and continues on a 24-hour per day basis until Oct. 20 at 2 p.m.
Smith said the move to online voting is an evolution over the past four years.
“Our first concern was that it be a secure process and the second is that be easy to use,” she said. “We brought in experts and council decided that we would proceed with this method for the 2014 election. Our partner, Dominion Voting, is recognized as a leader in the field.”
The municipal website http://www.chatham-kent.ca/MunicipalElections/Pages/InternetVoting.aspx has a video explaining how to vote online.
It’s a three step process as described on the website.
Step 1 – Register
You will log on to the voting website, select “Register,” fill in the fields required (Voter ID is located on the VIN Card), review and submit.
Step 2 – Get Your Ballot Pin
You will receive an e-mail shortly after registering with a link to obtain your pin. Enter the required information to issue your pin.
Step 3 – Vote!
Enter your Voter ID, Pin number, and verification text. Read over the Oath of Qualification (accept or decline), vote, review and submit your ballot. You’ll see a page that thanks you for voting and lets you know your vote was successfully cast.
Note: Anyone who doesn’t receive a VIN Card can contact a municipal centre to be added to the voters’ list or to be given a PIN for Internet voting.
Smith said voters cannot vote online on Election Day, Oct. 27.
“We will be monitoring how things work with the advance poll and council will decide at some point which direction we will go after that.”
