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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRPS-10-049 - 2010 Elections - Advance Vote & Hours of Voting for Retirement HomesREPORT Report To: Chair Vrbanovic and Members of the Finance & Corporate Services Commitee Date of Meeting: April 26, 2010 Submitted By: R. Gosse, Director of Legislated Services/City Clerk Prepared By: R. Gosse Ward(s) Involved: All Date of Report: April 15, 2010 Report No.: CRPS-10-049 Subject: 2010 ELECTIONS - ADVANCE VOTE & HOURS OF VOTING FOR RETIREMENT HOMES RECOMMENDATION: That pursuant to Subsection 43 (1) of the Municipal Elections Act, advance voting be held at the locations shown as Appendix ‘A’ attached to Corporate Services Department report CRPS-10-049 on the following dates and times: Tuesday October 12, 2010 2 p.m. – 8 p.m. Wednesday October 13, 2010 2 p.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday October 14, 2010 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. Saturday, October 16, 2010 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ; and further, That pursuant to Subsection 46 (3) of the Municipal Elections Act, the hours for voting on voting day at the Institutions – Retirement Homes shown as Appendix ‘B’ attached to Corporate Services Department report CRPS-10-049, be reduced to four hours. BACKGROUND: Subsection 43 (1) of the Municipal Elections Act, (the Act) states as follows: At least 30 days before Voting Day, the Council of a local municipality shall pass a by-law establishing, (a) one or more dates for an advance vote; and (b) the hours during which voting places shall be open on that date or dates. Section 46 (3) of the Act states: The council of a local municipality may pass a by-law with respect to a voting place described in subsection 45 (7) (an Institution occupied by persons who are disabled, chronically ill or infirm and, a retirement home with 50 or more beds) that is only for the use of residents of the institution or retirement home, providing for reduced hours. é ó ï REPORT: For the past several elections, the City has used a centralised tabulation system whereby ballots are dropped into ballot boxes at the voting places then at the close of voting, are transported to City Hall where they are sorted and counted through 1 of 3 tabulators. This system was labour intensive with well over 75 members of staff working into the evening on election day and final results took hours (in 2006 the last ballot was counted around 12:30 a.m.). For 2010 the City will use a decentralised tabulation system whereby ballots are marked then feed through a tabulator where it is counted. At the close of voting, the tabulators will be transported to City Hall and the count will be uploaded into a computer and the results posted on-line. This system is used by most municipalities that utilise an electronic tabulation system, is less labour intensive and should have results within 1-2 hours after the voting places close. In addition to the benefit of less staff resources and therefore less costs on election day, and the fact that results should be more timely, the major benefit of this system is the fact that if a voter over votes on the ballot thereby spoiling their vote, the tabulator will notify the elector allowing them to re-vote. As well, there are accessible tabulators that will allow a voter with a disability the opportunity to vote without or at least with minimal assistance. By having these types of tabulators available, the City will meet any obligations it has under the Human Rights Code and/or provincial legislation. Although there are many advantages of moving to decentralised tabulators there are some disadvantages that have to be considered. The most important is cost; for every voting place there will have to be a tabulator at a cost of $900 each. In 2006, the City had over 120 voting places and if it is decided to maintain the same number of voting places for 2010, there would be approximately $35,000 in additional leasing cost. One method of maintaining a large number of voting places while keeping costs down is to use tabulators more than once during the advance vote and utilising the reduced hours provisions of the Act with respect to institutions and retirement homes. ADAVANCE VOTE Advance voting was instituted for electors who would not be available to vote on voting day however, with proxy voting and advances in voting methods; advance voting has become additional voting days for all voters. Generally advance voting is less busy and if conducted in key locations, can be more convenient for electors. Previous to 2006, 4 advance voting days were held in City Hall resulting in less than 1% of votes cast in that election, mostly by electors living close to City Hall. In 2006 it was decided to try a different approach with 3 advance votes in each of the 6 Wards and an advance vote at the Kitchener Market for all 6 Wards. This resulted in approximately 2% of all votes cast and a more equitable distribution of voters. In reviewing the past elections and looking towards the 2010 advance vote, staff considered the following factors: Increasing voter turnout at the advance vote The addition of 4 more wards Location of community centres and those available in early October 2010 Requirements under the Act with respect to accessible voting Cost for the advance vote é ó î The cost of holding an advance vote is approximately $335/location/day for staffing purposes. On top of that there is an additional cost of $2000 per location for the lease of an accessible vote tabulator. The election budget allocated approximately $20,000 for holding the advance vote; half for the cost of hiring election workers and half for the lease of accessible tabulators. Under the Act, the clerk must have regard to the needs of electors and candidates with disabilities and, is to submit a report to council within 90 days of the election about the identification, removal and prevention of barriers that affect voters and candidates with disabilities. In this regard it was decided to utilize vote tabulators that are accessible to persons who are blind or have limited mobility. These particular tabulators function as a regular tabulator but have the ability to offer audio ballots and mechanisms such as paddles and puff & sip, for those with limited mobility. There is an addition cost of $1100 for each of these tabulators and as such, providing them at all voting places on voting day would be extremely cost prohibitive ($90,000). It was decided that the best option would be to offer these tabulators at all advance voting taking place at a community centre. In reviewing the results from the 2006 advance vote, it was found that moving the advance vote from City Hall and locating in community centres had a impact on the voter turnout. It was also found that holding an advance vote in the Kitchener Market did not provide the expected turnout. In consideration of these factors and the convenience of voting (i.e. available parking and location), it was decided to recommend 3 days of advance voting at various community centres throughout the City. Staff did explore the idea of holding at least one advance vote on a Saturday at Fairview Park Mall. Voting in this setting has been undertaken by a large number of municipalities, including Waterloo and Cambridge and has proven very successful. However, the mall was unable to accommodate the request. Staff also looked at utilising community centres in every ward but the impact on costs and availability of suitable locations in all wards makes this difficult and/or impossible. Bridgeport community centre will be under re-construction therefore not available leaving Ward 1 without a community centre. The new Kingsdale centre won’t be open during the election period and the current facility isn’t suitable for election purposes. With 2 wards without suitable community centres it was decided that the best solution would be to hold the advance vote at 5 community centres located equitably across the city and allowing voters to vote at any of them regardless of their qualifying address. The 5 community centres being recommended are: Stanley Park Doon Pioneer Park Forest Heights Country Hills Breithaupt These locations will operate on Tuesday October 12, Wednesday October 13 2-8pm and on Saturday October 16, 10am-4pm. In addition to the factors discussed above, by having the same community centres and the fact that voters can go to any one of them regardless of the ward they live in. This will be much easier and less confusing for electors as we can promote the advance vote without having regard to the wards. We will also promote these centres as a place for voters with disabilities to attend in order to utilise the accessible tabulators. é ó í Large Apartment Buildings In 2006, staff decided to locate voting polls on election day within large apartment buildings much the same as provincial and federal elections. By doing so, the city was able to offer convenient voting to a large number of voters in one location. The results for the most part showed an increase in voter turnout in those buildings, in some cases more than double. With going to a decentralised vote tabulator system, continuing to hold a voting place in these buildings will be extremely expensive as each location will need a tabulator at a cost of $900 per location. In order to continue to offer voting places within large buildings, staff is recommending that this be done as part of the advance vote. In determining which buildings would be suitable, staff compiled a list of buildings of over 100 units, reviewed the turnout from the 2006 elections for those buildings and looked at the distance between the building and the voting place that would be available to the residents on election day. Based on this criteria a list of 31 buildings has been determined (Appendix ‘A’ attached). By holding the vote in these buildings as part of the advance vote, there is no need for extra tabulators as the required tabulators will come from the stock to be used on election day; the only extra cost will be for memory cards ($75 each). In addition, it is being proposed to reduce the hours for voting in these buildings to 4 which is felt to be sufficient. The estimated cost to undertake this initiative is $7200. The alternative is to not have an advance vote in the buildings and residents will vote at the designated voting place in the neighbourhood. The cost to have a voting place in these buildings on election day as it was in 2006 is estimated at $27,900. INSTITUTIONS AND RETIREMENT HOMES The Act requires every municipality to provide a voting place on the premises of an institution which on nomination day has 20 or more beds occupied by persons who are disabled, chronically ill or infirm; and, a retirement home which has 50 or more beds occupied. The definition of an institution is fairly straight forward however; the Act does not define a retirement home. In reviewing other legislation staff has determined that a retirement home would be one where occupants have their own suite but use a common dining room for their meals which are prepared by the retirement home staff. It has been determined there are 6 Long Term Care institutions and 8 retirement homes in the City (attached as Appendix ‘B’). There are other properties that have a combination of long term care, retirement home and senior’s apartments. These have not been included for purposes of this section of the Act, as they will have a voting place open to all residents of the property regardless of which facility they live in. Having a traditional voting place in these 14 facilities will require 14 teams of 2 workers stationed at the facility for 10 hours and 14 tabulators at a cost of $1272 per location. By taking advantage of subsection 46 (3) of the Act, which allows for reduced voting hours at these types of facilities; only 7 teams with 7 tabulators will be required reducing the cost in half. Past experience has shown that in these types of facilities, voting is usually completed within 2-3 hours. It is being recommended that the voting hours at these locations be reduced to 4. This will allow a team of workers sufficient time to attend a facility, process ballots and after 4 hours return to City Hall where the memory card will be swapped out for a new facility. The team will then go to a second facility, tabulate those ballots and returning to City Hall at the end of voting. é ó ì FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: The cost of holding the advance vote in a community centre will be $335/location/day for election workers plus $2000/location for the accessible vote tabulator. The recommendation of holding the advance vote in 5 centres for 3 days will cost $15,025. The cost of holding an advance vote in each of the identified large apartment buildings will be $157 for election workers plus $75 for a memory card. The recommendation of holding an advance vote in the 31 identified apartments will be a total of $7192. The cost to have a voting place in every institution and retirement home as required under the Act without reduced hours is estimated at $17,808. The cost with respect to the recommended reduction in hours for the 14 identified facilities will be $8904. COMMUNICATIONS: In addition to the required notices of the advance vote under the Act, there will be promotion of the advance vote changes through posters, brochures and articles. As well, should council adopt the recommendation to have voting places in the large apartment buildings and to reduce the hours for institutions/retirement homes, notice will be sent directly to each facility, to be posted for its residents. ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Troy Speck, General Manager of Corporate Services é ó ë APPENDIX ‘A’ ADVANCE VOTE LOCATIONS October 12, 13 & 16, 2010 Facility Address Stanley Park Community Centre 505 Franklin Street N. Doon Pioneer Park Community Centre 150 Pioneer Drive Country Hills Community Centre 100 Rittenhouse Road Forest Heights Community Centre 1700 Queen’s Boulevard Breithaupt Centre 350 Margaret Avenue October 14, 2010 Apartment Building Address Bluebird Apartments 195 Natchez Road Ridgeway Apartments 91 Franklin Street South Sommerset Apartments 100 Eighth Avenue Waterloo Regional 210 Fourth Avenue The Courtland Apts 1100 Courtland Avenue East Wilson Place I & II 425/435 Wilson Avenue Highpoint Apartments 16 Cedarwoods Crescent Cedarwoods Tower 1 Cedarwoods Crescent Cypriot Homes Apartments 25 Country Hill Drive Country Hill Place 170 Country Hill Drive Country Hill Estates 250 Country Hill Drive Westheights Place 30 Westheights Drive Belmont Manor 545 Belmont Avenue West Capital Hill II 10 Overlea Drive Capital Hill I 11 Overlea Drive Westwind Apartments 10 Highland Crescent Gateway Property81 York Street Conestoga Towers 221 Queen Street South Wellington Place 81Church Street Senioren Haus Concordia 483 Ottawa Street South King Tower 812 King Street West Margaret Place I 305 Margaret Avenue Margaret Place II 315 Margaret Avenue Estates Apartments 188 Margaret Avenue Alexandrian Apartments 53 Water Street North 100 Queen Street Apts 100 Queen Street North Queen Margaret Apartments 11 Margaret Avenue The Kitchener Manor Apts 175 Queen Street North Homestead Land Holdings 57 Queen Street North Acadian Apartments 250 Frederick Street Eastwood Community 1414 King Street East é ó ê APPENDIX ‘B’ INSTITUTIONS – RETIREMENT HOMES FOR REDUCE HOURS OF VOTING Sunnyside Home 247 Franklin Street North (LONG TERM CARE) Freeport Health Centre 3570 King Street East (LONG TERM CARE) The Westmount 200 David Bergey Drive (LONG TERM CARE) Lanark Heights & Lanark Place 44 Lanark Crescent (LONG TERM CARE) Retirement Residence 46 Lanark Crescent – (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) Forest Heights Long Term Care 60 Westheights Drive (LONG TERM CARE) A. R. Goudie Eventide Home 369 Frederick Street (LONG TERM CARE) Fergus Place Retirement Centre 164 Fergus Avenue (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) Doon Village Retirement Residence 868 Doon Village Road (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) Bankside Terrace 71 Bankside Drive (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) Highland Place Retirement Residence 20 Fieldgate Street (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) Victoria Place 290 Queen Street South (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) Millwood Manor 409 Mill Street (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) Conestoga Lodge 55 Hugo Crescent (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) LaFontaine Terrace 169 Borden Avenue North (RETIREMENT RESIDENCE) é ó é