Internet Voting

“Elections should be designed inclusively and must be adapted to Accommodate the needs of persons with a Disability in a way that promotes integration and full participation”

On November 24, 2021, Oro-Medonte Town Clerk Aubichon provided a report to members of council in which she provided four options to be considered by council on how the electorate was to vote in the 2022 municipal election. Ms Aubichon recommended “In Person Electronic and Remote Internet/Telephone Voting with Paper Ballot Tabulator only on Request for the 2022 election.”

Despite Town Clerk Aubichon’s recommendation to include “Internet/Telephone Voting” in the 2022 municipal election, council enacted By-Law 2021-132 on December 8, 2021 thereby eliminating internet and telephone voting in the 2022 municipal election. Councillors Keane, DeSousa, Scott and Mayor Hughes voted to eliminate internet and telephone voting citing internet election voting security as the justification for the elimination of internet voting in the 2022 municipal election, in addition to Councillor Keane citing the difficulty that the older residents of Oro-Medonte may have in using a computer to vote due to their age.

Councillors Greenlaw, Veitch and Deputy Mayor Hough voted to include internet and telephone voting in the 2022 municipal election being cognizant of the inability of some members of this community to physically attend a voting station due to a disability(s) providing the necessary Accommodation as required under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Lets look at the Facts – Internet Security

Seventy-two percent (72%) of the people who voted in the 2018 Oro-Medonte municipal election used the internet to vote. There was no breach of internet voting security in the 2018 election.

Further, there has been no known breach of internet election security in Ontario. The fact is that a breach of internet election security is highly improbable to occur in any Ontario 2022 municipal election. Some Ontario towns have gone exclusively to internet voting in the 2022 election.

As is known or should be known by every council member, internet security systems are much more sophisticated and secure that they were in previous years, as evidenced by the known, unsuccessful attempts to breach the internet security in Oro-Medonte, as voiced by Mayor Hughes himself. This fact was ignored by several members of council.

Councillor Scott provided examples of breaches of internet security in the Towns of Wasaga Beach, Midland, Woodstock and three Ontario hospitals, no dates provided. These were not breaches of internet election voting security, but are examples of ransom malware being placed on the daily operating computer systems of the towns by the criminal element rendering them inoperable until such time as a ransom was paid by the town.

The fact is the reason that there has been no known breach of internet election voting security with the use of malware by the criminal element in Ontario is because the criminals know that another election using only paper ballots need be held negating their attempt to criminally extract a ransom from a town. The daily operating computer systems of a town are much more vulnerable and profitable and assured of a ransom being paid immediately. Further, municipal elections are held every four years, as opposed to the criminal element being able to place ransom malware on the daily operating systems of towns and businesses every day in an attempt to extract a ransom from the town, city or business.

I find the reasons provided by Councillors Keane, DeSousa, Scott and Mayor Hughes to eliminate internet voting from the 2022 municipal election due to internet security concerns to be meritless, misleading and contrived and more excuses than reasoned, acceptable justifications for their votes to eliminate internet voting in the 2022 election. All members of council have a legal Duty to Accommodate those persons who are disabled under the Ontario Human Rights Code. Deputy Mayor Hough stated this fact very clearly during the November 24, 2021 council meeting, in addition to Councillors Veitch and Scott, the latter being a former “Human Rights Investigator”.

The stated “threat” of a breach of internet election voting security, particularly in light of no known occurrence of internet election security in Ontario, does not outweigh the Accommodation needs of persons in this community with a disability(s) who require the Accommodation of the use of the internet or phone to vote, as was provided in the 2018 municipal election. In my view, the use of mail-in voting as a from of “accommodation” by council is insufficient and needless given the opportunity to include internet voting in the 2022 election in order to Accommodate those with a disability and the “convenience” of voting by the internet, as stated by many members of this community in letters and subsequently dismissed by the four stated members of council given their mindset not to allow internet voting in the 2022 election.

It should be noted that the voting option recommended by Clerk Aubichon was the least expensive to the taxpayers of this community and there would have been no financial “Undue Hardship” to the community in permitting internet and telephone voting in the 2022 election.

I provided a 35 page information/investigation report to all members of council referencing the Ontario Human Rights Code and case law for their review prior to the council meeting on December 8, 2021 during which By-Law 2021-132 was enacted by council by the majority block vote of Councillors Keane, DeSousa, Scott and Mayor Hughes.

“The purpose of the Code is to foster a society... in which there are no impediments to full and free participation in the economic, social, political and cultural life, and to provide a climate of understanding and mutual respect where all are equal in dignity and in rights.”

In what I view as a failure by several members of council to ensure this occurs, I have formally filed two complaints with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario alleging Discrimination on the Grounds of Age in Services and Discrimination on the Grounds of Handicap in Services and presently awaiting decisions of the Tribunal.

In my view, the decision by these four members of council to eliminate internet voting in the 2022 municipal election was, as stated earlier, needless and was done for politically strategic reasons. What else could any reasonable person conclude given the facts in this matter, nothing else makes sense. I suggest you ask you councillor or the Mayor for their explanation and remember the facts contained within this letter at election time.

The full 35-page report is available from your ward councillor or the Mayor.

Robert J. Young