Clearview Township will be offering in-person voting during the 2022 municipal election, along with mail and online options.
Clerk Pamela Fettes said the municipality has successfully executed two elections using phone and online voting, noting Clearview was a local leader in the latter.
“We have found over the last two elections that there is still a percentage of people that would prefer going to the polls and actually filling out the paper ballot,” said Fettes. “And at the end of the day what we want to achieve is high voter turnout. If we can provide as many forms of voting to get the electorate out that’s what we want to do.”
Fettes recommended using Dominion Voting as a provider, saying it provides a seamless integration between voter list management, electronic and paper voting.
In 2018, municipalities using Dominion Voting experienced slow election results, causing some municipalities to extend their voting period by 24 hours. Clearview was not among them as it was using a different provider.
Fettes said issue was documented, reviewed and determined to be the result of a Toronto-based internet colocation provider that placed an unauthorized limit on incoming voting traffic, that was roughly one tenth of the system’s designated bandwidth. Dominion Voting says it is confident it has eliminated any bandwidth concerns in future elections.
The cost of the service is estimated at $48,630.