Clearview Township is on a mission to increase the number of voters in next fall’s municipal election with five innovations, including telephone and Internet voting.
“In 2010, 45 per cent of the population came out to vote for its Council members,” said Pamela Fettes, Clerk at Clearview Township. “This is pretty high, but we would still like to see it higher. That is why we have embarked on some new changes.”
For one, citizens will be voting by telephone and online this year, she said. Last June, Council voted unanimously to support telephone and Internet voting. Citizens will no longer be able to mail in their votes, as they did during the last election.
“The purpose is to make voting more accessible to everyone no matter where you are,” said Fettes. “If you have a disability, it can be hard to leave your home. It is critical for us to support that segment of the population by allowing people to vote in the comfort of their own home. Some people will miss the paper ballot, but this is about accessibility. The end goal is to make sure that anybody can vote who do not.”
Fettes said that 44 municipalities in Ontario including Meaford used telephone and Internet voting for the first time in the 2010 election. “They were the guinea pigs,” she explained. “We learned that the voting turnout didn’t decline and in a lot of cases it improved. It worked really well the first time, so now other municipalities are jumping on the bandwagon, as they have progressed technologically in the four-year time frame.”
Along with Clearview, Wasaga Beach and the Township of Springwater will also be employing telephone and Internet voting for the first time this year.
The Township has not finalized details about the telephone and Internet voting process. In fact, it still has yet to select a vendor.
“All information will be forthcoming in the summer or early fall,” said Fettes. “We will have voter information centres set up at the local libraries. If you don’t have the Internet at home and you don’t want to use your phone, you will be able to go to the library to use the computer there on voting day.”
“As well, the vendor we choose will be going out into the community to provide information on how to use the system. We will also be hosting a series of four Public Meetings about telephone and Internet voting, likely in Creemore, Stayner, Nottawa and Brentwood.”
For those who have concerns about privacy and confidentiality when voting by telephone or Internet, Fettes assures voters that the process will be secure. “Everything will be placed in a secured format. It has to be because we have to follow the Municipal Elections Act. If you have questions about security, come to the Public Meetings; the vendors will be there to answer all the high-tech questions.”
The Township is also employing virtual tactics to reach out to its citizens with social media. Find information for voters and candidates, as well as key dates, in the “Municipal Election 2014 section” of www.clearview.ca, and by following “Vote Clearview” on Facebook and Twitter. As the election date draws nearer, more information will be posted, Fettes said.
The coming election will also mark the début of the Township’s new ward system. Clearview’s seven-ward system was revised last year to improve the the representation of the rural population.
While some of the candidate’s ward numbers will remain the same, others will change. For instance, Councillor Thom Paterson has already filed his papers to run for the new ward 5, which is the re-drawn ward 4 that he currently represents.
For citizens who are interested in running for Council, or who are just plain interested in the process, the Township will be hosting a candidate information session on Tuesday, May 6 at 7 pm. At the session, a representative from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing will present information about running for office and answer questions from potential candidates.
If, after these new efforts, people still aren’t getting the “get out to vote” message, then the Township is hoping their children will. In the coming months, Fettes is planning to talk to elementary and high school students about the upcoming election. “It’s important for students to understand the democratic process. By talking about it, they can get their parents interested in the election and voting.”
The election will be held on Monday, October 27. Candidates have until Friday, September 12 at 2 pm to file their papers.