By Cecilia Nasmith, Northumberland Today
COBOURG – Cobourg council has accepted the recommendation in municipal clerk Lorraine Brace’s report at last week’s council meeting, and brought back Intellivote Systems Inc. to make the arrangements for Intellivote Systems’ Internet and telephone voting in the 2018 municipal election.
Their support was whole-hearted, Brace reported afterwards, and the record of success with Intellivote is solid.
With the next municipal campaign beginning May 1, 2018, and the vote taking place Oct. 22 that year, paper ballots have long since been phased out and the municipality requires the services of an external provider to handle the Internet- and telephone-voting components of the election.
Alternative-voting methods were first authorized for municipal elections in 2006, an effort for which Intellivote was engaged to provide an electronic-voting system to offer in addition to the traditional paper ballots. Intellivote was brought back for the 2010 and 2014 elections as well, when the process went all-electronic.
Their services included election personnel and candidate training, exceptional support (with site visits as required), set-up of a Voter Help Line, promotional DVD, elector voter-information cards, formulation of policies and procedures, as well as clear written and verbal instructions for implementation of the system.
There have consistently been positive results, the report said, offering statistics to illustrate.
The participation rate in 2014 was 52.4%, up from 47.3% in 2010. This compares with a 36.7% turn-out in 2003, the last election using only traditional paper ballots, and 47.3% in 2006, when voters had a choice of paper or electronic voting.
Election costs for the town were $81,627.69 in 2003, and rose by about $6,000 in 2006. But they declined once the town went all-electronic — $52,460.50 in 2010 and $53,578.73 in 2014.
Interviewed later, Brace said the lower cost can be accounted for largely by eliminating extra staffing, paper records and polling stations.
“The results are so quick, and they are audited, and they are accurate,” she stated.
The municipal solicitor and an Intellivote rep take over Brace’s office on election day to monitor activities. The extra pair of eyes are a good precaution, she said.
Her report gave details of the Intellivote $39.200 quote for 2018, based on an estimated 15,000 electors, a set-up that will allow votes to cast ballots 24 hours a day over a seven-to-10-day period.