HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCS-11-120 - 2010 Municipal Elections ReviewREPORT TO:Finance & Corporate Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING:
May 30, 2011
SUBMITTED BY: R. Gosse, Director of Legislated Services/City Clerk
PREPARED BY:
R. Gosse, 2809
WARD(S) INVOLVED: n/a
DATE OF REPORT: May 19, 2011
REPORT NO.:
FCS-11-120
SUBJECT:2010 Municipal Elections Review
RECOMMENDATION:
That Finance and Corporate Services report FCS-11-120, dated May 19, 2011 titled 2010
Municipal Elections Review, be received for information; and,
That the resolution of the Council of the City of Oshawa adopted on April 11, 2011,
requesting the Minister of Education to amend the Education Act to declare voting day as
a Professional Activity Day in order that schools would be available for the sole use as a
voting place, be endorsed; and further,
That this endorsement be forwarded to the Minister of Education and all Region of
Waterloo municipalities, School Boards and MPP’s.
BACKGROUND:
In 2010, the regular municipal elections were held with many new procedures and initiatives in
an attempt to make improvements in the election process. This report serves as the initial
follow-up to the election providing information on the new initiatives, improvements, what
worked, what did not and areas to be investigated for the 2014 elections.
REPORT:
There were a number of new initiatives introduced for the 2010 elections including: a different
type of vote counting equipment from previous elections; vote anywhere during the advance
vote that utilized a digital voters’ list; reduced hours of voting in nursing homes; and, utilizing city
staff at the voting places. These changes in 2010 were very successful, however, there were
problems in other areas such as the voters’ list received from MPAC and some voting place
facilities.
Decentralized vote tabulators
Prior to 2010 the city used centralized vote tabulators to count and compile the votes cast. This
entailed marked ballots being deposited into ballot boxes; then, at the end of voting, the ballot
boxes transported to City Hall. At City Hall each box was opened, the ballots sorted and re-
boxed for counting through 2 to 3 large tabulators. This process was extremely labour intensive
and took approximately 4-5 hours before final results were posted.
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In 2010 decentralized tabulators were introduced and well received by the public. These
tabulators are portable and were placed in each voting location. Marked ballots were fed
through the tabulator before being deposited into a ballot box and the votes cast were recorded
on a memory card. At the end of voting, the memory cards were taken to City Hall as soon as
possible, the votes were then up-loaded into the election computer and posted on-line. The use
of these tabulators resulted in a significant reduction of staff at City Hall on election evening and
results were finalized within 1.5 hours. The use of decentralized tabulators also offered the
opportunity for voters to re-mark their ballot if they had over voted or not voted at all for a race
on a ballot.
Advance Voting -Vote Anywhere/Digital Voters’ List
In 2006 advance voting took place in 6 community centres and in previous elections, advance
voting was held exclusively at City Hall. Advance voting this past election was held in 5
community centres over 3 days and a fourth day was devoted to large apartment buildings.
Prior to 2010, voters were assigned to a specific advance voting place where the manual
system of stroking off voters from a printed voters’ list was used. Following each day, the names
of those who voted were then entered into the election system in order to show them stroked off
when printing the voting day voters’ list. In 2010 a digital voters’ list was developed by the IT
Division and used during the 3 days of voting at the community centres. This allowed voters to
vote at any of the 5 locations. The digital voters’ list worked very well, ensuring voters only voted
once and saving hours of staff time to input data following each day of voting as was done in
previous elections. There were some minor issues and lessons learned that will need to be
addressed and implemented for the next election.
In 2006, there was an increase in advance voter turnout to 1.69% from less than 1% in previous
elections. This trend continued in 2010 with a turnout of 2.34%.
Advance Voting – Accessible Tabulators
During advance voting, voters’ with a disability were provided the opportunity to utilize
accessible tabulators so they could vote with only the minimum of assistance. These tabulators
would allow the voter to hear an audio ballot and cast their vote by pressing a device with either
their hands or feet. Once completed, the ballots would be printed with the votes marked and
entered into the voting tabulator, all in compliance with the Act. At least one of these tabulators
was available at each advance voting location, however, only one person took advantage of this
service. Although this would appear as not being very cost effective, staff believe that providing
a barrier-free voting option to voters with a disability is ethically as well as legally, a
responsibility of the City. 2010 was the first year that this option has been available and staff
has learned that more effective communication around this option is required for future
elections.
Retirement Institutions – Reduced Hours
The Municipal Elections Act requires municipalities to have a separate voting place for the
residents of retirement institutions but also allows municipalities to reduce the number of hours
for voting at such institutions. Council approved the plan to reduce the number of hours at 14
institutions which resulted in a savings of approximately $8500; yet, all eligible electors at the
institutions had sufficient time to vote. The savings were realized through a reduction in required
staffing and elimination of 7 tabulators. There were 7 teams of 2 election workers who had a
tabulator and these teams would conduct the vote from 10am to 2pm at 7 of the institutions.
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Following the vote the teams would return to City Hall, swap out the memory cards, pick up new
supplies and then conduct the vote at the remaining institutions. This turned out to be an
effective use of staff and equipment without compromising anyone’s right to vote.
Issues – Voters’ List
As in the past, the preliminary Voters’ list received from the Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation (MPAC) caused a few problems in 2010. In 2006 potential voters designated as
unconfirmed (MPAC cannot confirm the voter’s citizenship) were on the list with a designation of
‘U’. This designation would indicate to staff that proof of citizenship was required before the
voter could cast their vote. In 2010, MPAC decided not to include these voters on the list and
therefore, the number of voters was reduced by approximately 18,000. These voters had to
complete a form to be added to the voters’ list prior to casting a ballot which resulted in more
time at the voting places to complete the forms, then time to enter the data into the voting
system.
Another issue of concern involved entire apartment buildings being left off the list. This required
staff to spend time to notify voters of the situation and extra time for voters to complete the form
to be added to the list. This was particularly frustrating for voters at 425 Wilson Avenue who
went through the same situation in 2006. In all cases we understand why this has happened, 2
buildings sharing the same property roll number, new buildings not entered onto the roll and
buildings registered as a condominium under the developers name but all units are being
rented. These have been brought to the attention of MPAC and solutions have been discussed.
City staff will follow-up with MPAC later this year to ensure that the solutions have been
implemented.
Although some of the usual issues with the voters’ list and MPAC continue to surface, staff was
impressed with how well MPAC dealt with the ward changes for the election. For the most part
the ward boundaries were correct and with the exception of a few properties, they were able to
place properties within the proper wards.
Issues – Voting Places
Changes to the Municipal Elections Act in late 2009 required that all voting places must now be
accessible to electors with disabilities. Accordingly, staff undertook 109 inspections of potential
voting places to ensure they met the general standards for accessibility. This resulted in five
traditionally used voting places being deemed as un-accessible and therefore could not be used
as a voting place. Various accommodations had to be made at a further 18 locations, which
were identified as being only partially accessible. In addition, several facilities used in the past
were under construction and therefore not available. This caused staff difficulty in finding
sufficient locations that would meet the needs for a voting place, be accessible and available.
Due to limited alternate locations, there were some voting places that were not up to the usual
standards or caused problems for voters such as parking. These locations have been noted and
will not be used in future elections.
Recount
In 2010, Kitchener had a recount due to a 1 vote margin in the Ward 9 Councillor race. Council
ordered the first recount which involved all the ballots from Ward 9 being fed back through the
tabulators. This resulted in the exact same vote as that of Election Day. Following that recount,
the un-elected candidate made application to the courts for a second recount to involve only
those ballots that were deemed as over voted. Although staff submitted a response to the
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application taking the position that a second recount should not be allowed, the courts issued a
decision ordering the recount. The results of the second recount were no different from the first
or from the votes cast during the 2010 election. The cost for the recounts which included
programming fees for new memory cards, court costs and costs of the un-elected candidate
was approximately $9000.
What’s Next – Future Elections
As in every election, new initiatives were implemented, processes were changed and lessons
were learned. Feedback was obtained from those involved in the election and issues were
raised from voters and candidates. Legislated Services staff has reviewed the information,
discussed the issues and have begun to compile the data that will assist when preparing for the
next election.
The decentralized tabulators worked very well and provided many benefits to the election
process, however, there are other options with respect to how votes are tabulated that will be
investigated before the next election. These options will include the use of touch screen
tabulators that may offer a better and easier experience for voters, internet voting which would
allow easier voting and may be another solution for those voters with disabilities and new
innovations that are on-going.
The use of a digital voters’ list allowing vote anywhere proved to be effective and should be
continued along with more voting places for advance voting. Staff will be in contact with MPAC
prior to 2014 to ensure issues with the voters’ list are resolved before the preliminary list is
compiled and provided to the City.
The voting places that were used in 2010 were all inspected and the inspection reports will
remain on file. This will allow more time for staff to investigate and inspect other appropriate
facilities to replace those that were of concern.
City of Oshawa Resolution
Currently, Regulation 304 of the Education Act requires that each school board designate at
least 2 days during the school year as Professional Activity Days. The City of Oshawa’s
resolution (letter dated April 15, 2011 attached), requests that the Minister of Education amend
the Education Act to designate, in an election year, one of those days to fall on voting day so as
to free up the school facility for election purposes. This would assist municipalities that rely on
school facilities for use as voting places. There would be no pupils in attendance thereby
reducing security issues; in keeping with the intent behind the request teachers would not be at
schools used for the election thereby freeing up parking; and, it could possibly make available
more facilities not normally used due to access issues.
Council is requested to support Oshawa’s resolution.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
Public Sector Leadership – Ensuring accountability in all public processes and promoting
continuous improvements.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
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ACKNOWLEDGED BY: D. Chapman, Deputy CAO – Finance & Corporate Services Dept.
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