It is a common misconception that there is no electronic voting in Canada. While the federal elections still use paper ballots, voting technology has been used since at least the 1990s at the municipal level, and there are increasing efforts to introduce it at a provincial level.

There are no Canadian electronic voting standards. Some systems used have been certified to United States standards.

Federal

For national elections, there is a uniform set of standards for voting. This governing law is the Canada Elections Act.

As of this writing, the Act is c. 9, assented to (made law) 31st May, 2000. It has a provision

PART 2 CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER AND STAFF

Electronic voting process

18.1 The Chief Electoral Officer may carry out studies on voting, including studies respecting alternative voting means, and may devise and test an electronic voting process for future use in a general election or a by-election. Such a process may not be used for an official vote without the prior approval of the committees of the Senate and of the House of Commons that normally consider electoral matters.

Provincial

Each province can choose its own voting machines and standards.

In September, 2004 the Chief Election Officer of Ontario released a report "Access, Integrity and Participation: Towards Responsive Electoral Processes for Ontario" which advocates the exploration of alternative (non-paper) voting channels, as well as other automated processes. To this end, he has issued two opportunities (requests for proposals): "Alternative Voting Methods - Pilot Application" and "Automated Voter Recording System".

The Democratic Renewal Secretariat of Ontario has election reform as part of its mandate. Their site states "we’ll examine whether and how to modernize our voting process, use technology better, and make it easier to vote."

It was reported in the Globe and Mail on May 13, 2004 that "New Brunswick's chief electoral officer is reviewing the possibility of using electronic voting machines on a wide basis."

Municipal

Each municipality can choose its own voting machines and standards.

Markham, Ontario used Internet voting in 2003. The Markham system was from the US company Election Systems & Software.

Edmonton, Alberta offered touch-screen voting machines for advance voting in 2004.

Saint John, New Brunswick used optical scanning machines in the 2004 municipal election.

Jonathon Hollins, Canadian director of Election Systems & Software reports that "Voting on standalone touch-screen machines (Direct Recording Electronics), ... which also caters to the visually-impaired through an audio ballot, has been used in municipal elections held in Toronto, Edmonton, and the Ontario cities of Vaughan, Brantford, Oakville and Mississauga.

In Ontario, Markham and Prescott have also flirted with Internet voting, which allows people to vote at home, at work, in libraries or at the polling station. The city of Vancouver and the province of Ontario are also exploring online voting for their next elections, according to (Adam Froman, president of Delvinia Interactive Inc.)"

A 2000 year-end report from Global Election Systems (now owned by US company Diebold) states "Global reports add-on sales of 60 AccuVote systems to the City of Ottawa and 70 to the City of Hamilton as well as first-time sales of 60 AccuVote-TS systems to the City of Barrie".

External links

• Elections Canada
• Elections Ontario
• Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (OCEO) New Brunswick
• List of all provincial election offices including clickable map
• Paper Vote Canada a blog about electronic voting issues in Canada
• Access, Integrity and Participation: Towards Responsive Electoral Processes for Ontario (PDF document)
• ACCÈS, INTÉGRITÉ ET PARTICIPATION : vers des processus électoraux souples pour l’Ontario (PDF)
• Ontario Democratic Renewal Secretariat
• What If They Hold A Vote And No One Shows Up? Backbone Magazine article about Markham Internet voting
• Edmonton Vote 2004 > Advance Vote
• Canada unlikely to imitate U.S. e-voting effort: experts
• Global Election Announces (2000) Year-End System Sales; Increased Revenues
• Canada Legal Information Institute (CanLII) Canada Elections Act, 2000, c. 9 >> 18.1 Electronic voting process
• NB ponders e-voting Globe and Mail May 13, 2004
• Vote Tabulation Machine Use in the City of Saint John Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Government of New Brunswick