Online voting fails to entice young voters in N.W.T.

What do a retiree in Florida, a vacationing couple in Italy, and an elder in Tulita have in common?

They'll all be voting online in next week's territorial election, according to the territory's chief electoral officer.

Applications for advance and online voting closed Saturday, and Elections NWT confirmed Monday that 425 online ballots had been issued. That number doesn't include online ballots issued in the final days before the deadline.

Online voting didn't appear to resonate with younger voters — 60 per cent of online ballots went to voters aged 35 and over.

"We know we had 1,400 records of individuals that were away in post-secondary," said Nicole Latour, the territory's chief electoral officer.

"In theory, we could say, 'OK, you know, 50 per cent of them vote, there should be 700 applications from that demographic.' And we didn't get there."

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"They didn't take it up, but they had the opportunity," she said. "And that's what I think matters most, because I don't think any young elector could come to me and say, 'I couldn't engage in our electoral process.'"

This is the first time the N.W.T. has offered voters an electronic voting option, and the territory is the first jurisdiction in Canada to use online voting in a provincial or territorial election. 

Overall, Latour said, the 425 online ballots represent just a small percentage of the total ballots expected to be cast, which normally number above 12,000.

That's more absentee ballots than in 2015, when only 110 voters opted for a mail-in ballot. 

This year, just 61 voters opted for mail-in advanced ballots. 

Advance voting was most popular in the ridings of Thebacha and Nahendeh. Roughly 16 per cent and 12 per cent of voters, respectively, applied to cast their ballots online, as of Friday afternoon.

It was least popular in the Sahtu, Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, and Deh Cho ridings, where fewer than two per cent of voters opted for advance ballots. In Yellowknife ridings, the average was about five per cent.

Online voters can't vote at polls

Voters who've received an online or mail-in ballot need to know: they can't vote in person on or before election day without involving Elections NWT.

Anyone who's received an advance ballot is considered to have voted, Latour said, and their name is struck off the registry held at the polls.

"We look at it as ballots cast, because when you're issued the URL and the pin, that's your ballot," she said. "We can look at that later, and see how many were actually issued ballots and didn't follow through… but that's really of no concern to us now, because they actually have until Oct. 1."

Elections NWT won't say what percentage of online voters have actually cast their ballot, and neither does their online voter information platform, Electorhood.

Candidates, however, can access a list of everyone who has voted, updated every 15 minutes.

"Some people had questions about this. ... 'Is that right? They can tell if you voted or not?'" she said. "The theory behind that is that they don't need to campaign to someone who's already cast their ballot."

Still opportunities to vote in advance

Voters with an approved application for an online ballot can cast their vote anytime from when they receive their unique PIN via email to when polls close at 8 p.m. on Oct. 1.

For voters who missed the deadline to apply for an online ballot, there are still a number of options for casting a vote.

Any eligible voter can register and vote in person at an office of returning officers until Saturday, Sept. 28 at 2 p.m.  

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In some communities without a returning officer, temporary advance polls will be set up in the next week so that voters there also have that opportunity.

"Those are generally very lightly attended, with one, maybe two people," said Latour.

It's never too late to vote until the polls close — you can register and vote in person at polling stations across the territory on Oct. 1, right up until 8 p.m.