More criticism of HRM e-voting
Posted Nov 29, 2012 07:51:10 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A former Member of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly is raising further concerns about the recent municipal election.
Don Chard says the e-voting instructions were confusing for telephone voting, during the Oct. 20 municipal election in Halifax Regional Municipality. Reportedly, hundreds of votes were invalidated based on some technical misunderstandings by voters.
“It’s been confirmed by the HRM returning officer that if you voted by telephone and did not confirm that you were deliberately not voting for school board members, if you didn’t get that confirmation, your vote did not get counted,” Chard told News 95.7.
Chard is calling for future voting instructions to be made clearer.
Newly-elected Mayor Mike Savage said there was nothing wrong with the instructions.
“I didn’t hear a lot of complaints about e-voting or even telephone voting,” said Savage. “So I think, by and large, it worked pretty well.”
The city does a review before every municipal election to see what’s worked well and what hasn’t. Savage said he is open to looking at the issue before the next election if need be.
Chard’s comments came the same day as Supreme Court Justice Kevin Coady’s recount in District 3, which Chard lobbied for after the number of votes between incumbent councillors Bill Karsten and Jackie Barkhouse was arguably too close.
Karsten was named the winner following Wednesday’s recount.
